Dinghy Slashing in the Channel Triggers Police Inquiry and Port Diversion
Far-right activist Daniel Thomas slashed an inflatable dinghy in the Channel on 22 September while a rescue worker was on board.
Thomas, who calls himself Danny Tommo, spent Tuesday afternoon in a small boat filming himself as he followed two dinghies carrying asylum seekers, people seeking protection in another country, from France to the UK. He livestreamed the stabbing to 100,000 viewers. The Guardian
A rescue worker in an orange high-visibility jacket and yellow helmet had stepped into the dinghy from a larger rescue boat as Thomas approached. The RNLI, the charity that runs lifeboat rescues around Britain, said the people in that dinghy had been at sea for 36 hours, thought to be the longest Channel crossing by small-boat passengers. The RNLI helped move them to a Border Force vessel, a government boat used for immigration and border checks. Charities condemned the footage.
Thomas then used social media to tell followers to gather in Gosport at 7pm to protest the expected arrival. Hundreds gathered early on Tuesday evening in Gosport, Hampshire, aiming to disrupt the planned disembarkation. Instead, Border Force vessels carrying asylum seekers landed in Dover early on Wednesday, 23 September. They did not land in Gosport.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was conducting inquiries into the boat-slashing incident. Officers made six arrests for offences including assaulting an emergency worker and aggravated trespass. All six were in custody on Tuesday night.
Thomas spent two years in prison for attempted kidnapping. This summer he brought dozens of nationalist protest groups together under the umbrella movement Patriot Platform. Earlier in September, after weeks of preparation, he organised a demonstration in Dover and was also present in Portsmouth. BBC In that earlier period, hundreds of protesters gathered in Portsmouth after a migrant boat arrival, and a boat carrying about 140 migrants was brought ashore in Hampshire. BBC
A boat Thomas had bought to patrol the Channel for asylum seeker boats accidentally sank. He is now crowdfunding, collecting small donations online, to buy a second boat. The Independent
Around 60 migrants who refused help from the French coastguard and spent more than 30 hours at sea arrived in Dover. Irish News
The broader context here is operational. A public call to gather at a stated landing point can force officials to reroute vessels, which affects reception planning, policing and rescue coordination. Direct action during an active rescue, especially when livestreamed, shortens the time officials have to respond and widens the audience for confrontation. For officials and rescue services, the steps from interception at sea to protest on shore to diversion to another port point to closer questions about how private boats interact with rescue scenes, how landing information spreads, and where responsibility lies when interference and emergency work overlap.
