Channel dinghy slashing incident draws UK police inquiry

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Thomas shouted “This is England” as he slashed the boat with his knife. Photograph: Danny Tommo/Youtube theguardian.com

Anti-migrant protesters stand before police in Gosport, where they believed rescued asylum seekers were to arrive. However, a Border Force boat instead relocated the asylum seekers to Dover, a 150-mile road trip away. Photograph: Solent News & Photo Agency theguardian.com

Police on foot, in vans and on bikes flank coaches transporting followers Thomas had called on to protest against the asylum seekers’ arrival in Gosport. Photograph: Solent News & Photo Agency theguardian.com

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A far-right activist filmed himself slashing an inflatable dinghy in the English Channel while a rescue worker was still aboard, according to The Guardian. The man, identified as Daniel Thomas, shouted “This is England” during the incident, which was livestreamed to a large online audience. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was making inquiries, after protests the same day around a planned disembarkation of asylum seekers in Gosport.

The footage, as described by the newspaper, shows a small boat left with lifejackets after its passengers had been taken off, with a rescue worker in high-visibility clothing and a helmet still on the craft as Thomas approaches with a blade. The episode sits alongside a broader shift documented in earlier reporting: local groups moving from online organising to physical patrols and actions around asylum accommodation and Channel arrivals. Thomas has spent the summer pulling together nationalist protest groups under a banner called Patriot Platform, The Guardian reports, and used social media to direct supporters to Gosport at a specific time. Border Force vessels ultimately landed in Dover instead.

The immediate trigger for the Gosport mobilisation was a Channel crossing that rescue services described as unusually prolonged and risky. The RNLI raised concerns about deteriorating health among those rescued and the danger of “catastrophic failure” of the dinghy, while the French coastguard said a small boat with about 60 people spent more than 33 hours at sea and refused assistance, determined to reach the UK. In that environment, even small acts of interference can compound risk: puncturing an inflatable craft is not a symbolic gesture when the same hull type is used repeatedly in rescue transfers and when crews are moving people between vessels in open water.

The state response, for now, is being routed through public-order and criminal processes rather than border policy. Police made arrests on Tuesday night for offences including assaulting an emergency worker and aggravated trespass, with all held in custody, according to the report. Advocacy groups on opposing sides of the migration debate are also trying to frame the incident: a refugee charity condemned the act as violent and dangerous, while anti-migration organisers have presented themselves as “filling a gap” left by official enforcement. The basic asymmetry remains: the costs of a failed crossing are borne by those at sea and by rescue services, while the attention and online reach accrue to the people filming themselves at the waterline.

In the video described by The Guardian, the rescue worker climbs back onto a larger rescue boat before Thomas leaves the scene. The dinghy, already a piece of disposable equipment in a repeated cross-Channel routine, is shown being cut open anyway.