Farage warns masked protesters as Reform faces fresh row Nigel Farage has warned that masked anti-migration protesters will not solve the Channel crisis, as a confrontation between Reform UK and one of the organisers of protests in Dover and Portsmouth exposed growing tensions over how the issue should be tackled. Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo and an associate of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, confronted Reform home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf during an interview in Portsmouth. Mr Thomas accused Mr Farage of insulting protesters by calling demonstrators at the Unite the Kingdom rally in London earlier this year “knuckle-draggers”. Mr Thomas told Mr Yusuf that there had been “a million people on the streets of London” from different backgrounds. He said Mr Farage needed to be “very careful with his words”, while claiming he understood the Reform leader would one day become prime minister and therefore had to “set a standard”. Danny Tommo (right) is a former bodyguard for Tommy Robinson (left) who has risen the ranks of the far-right to lead the Patriot Platform, launched in June (PA) The exchange came after Mr Thomas claimed responsibility for organising a protest in Dover on Saturday. Men dressed in black clothing and wearing balaclavas were filmed blocking roads, while Mr Thomas was also present in Portsmouth when migrants arrived on Sunday. Mr Yusuf responded with a clear warning about violence. He told Mr Thomas to make sure there was no violence towards police, stressing: “There is never any excuse for violence against police officers who are doing their job.” Mr Thomas insisted there had been no violence in Dover. Asked whether the masks and clothing worn by his group were intimidating, he said the covered faces could make people feel intimidated, but claimed the reason for wearing them was that “no-one wants to be labelled far right”. The protest organiser founded Patriot Platform in July. He has promoted the group as a project to build “a mighty patriotic army”, partly aimed at pushing back against migrants arriving in Britain by small boat. Mr Thomas has openly recruited supporters through social media. But the Dover protest appeared to take authorities by surprise, with Kent Police describing it as “spontaneous”. The confrontation in Portsmouth came after a dramatic stand-off around the arrival of around 140 migrants. The migrants were brought ashore by RNLI lifeboats at Eastney Marina on Sunday, where protesters blocked the road leading away from the lifeboat station. The landing point sits on a narrow shingle bank with only one road leading towards the city. Images showed police carrying riot shields and forming a line around coaches waiting to transport the migrants. By Monday afternoon, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said official vehicles had been damaged and a handful of officers injured during the confrontation with masked anti-migration protesters. The force launched an investigation into potential assaults and criminal damage. Around 200 activists had left Portsmouth at about 4am, police said. Footage posted online appeared to show protesters following the convoy of coaches along a motorway after the migrants had been taken away. Mr Thomas himself livestreamed from the sea on Sunday, saying roads were blocked and the migrants would not be able to leave. He said protesters had warned the previous day in Dover that they would no longer accept being told that Channel boat numbers were falling. The protests also triggered anger from Portsmouth City Council leader Steve Pitt. He criticised the decision to bring the lifeboats carrying migrants into the city, saying it had “put people at risk” and caused “needless disruption”. Mr Pitt said the Home Office had “serious questions to answer” over what he called an “unsuitable” location for the migrants to disembark. He said the council had not been consulted about the decision to use Portsmouth. The extraordinary scenes also affected an elderly local resident. Barry John-Williams, 69, said he had to deflate his 2.7-metre dinghy after protesters offered him money to use it and apparently believed migrants might have arrived in it. “They were offering to pay me money to take the boat,” he told the Press Association. He said he kept it where it was and deflated it because he did not know what protesters intended to do with it. The dinghy itself had been met by lifeboats from the Isle of Wight after reaching British waters. It had travelled from the Cherbourg area and is thought to have made one of the longest journeys by a small boat, while migrant landings as far west as Hampshire remain rare. Officials believe the journey was a one-off rather than evidence of a new tactic. The incident nevertheless highlighted the continuing reach of the Channel migration crisis far beyond the traditional landing areas in Kent. Against this increasingly tense backdrop, Mr Farage sought to draw a distinction between the Dover protesters and those who gathered in Portsmouth. In a video posted on X on Monday, he said the country appeared to be “on the edge of serious civil disturbance”. But the Reform leader also issued a blunt rejection of the masked marches. He said people wearing masks and clothing resembling a paramilitary uniform would not solve the migration problem. “There is a marked difference between what happened in Dover and what happened last night in Portsmouth,” Mr Farage said. His message was clear: the issue, he argued, could ultimately only be resolved “through the ballot box”. The clash between Mr Thomas and Mr Yusuf therefore exposed a difficult political balancing act for Reform. The party continues to campaign aggressively on immigration and small boat crossings, while Farage has now publicly distanced himself from masked, paramilitary-style demonstrations. The protests have also brought pressure from another direction, with police investigating alleged assaults and criminal damage and Portsmouth’s council leader demanding answers over the choice of landing site. For Mr Yusuf, the encounter with Mr Thomas produced a direct warning about violence against police. For Mr Farage, the challenge is to maintain his party’s hardline position on migration while insisting that street protests involving masked demonstrators are not the answer. And with protesters continuing to mobilise and the Channel issue remaining politically explosive, the divide between organised activism, public anger and Reform’s electoral strategy is now under intense scrutiny. Migrant protest founder confronts Reform UK over Farage jibe
Create an account or sign in to comment