🔻About 500 people on Sunday, September 6 tried by blocking the road in the port of Portsmouth to prevent the transfer of people who had crossed from France to south England with a small boat.

The UK government condemned the actions of the demonstrators and called them “hooliganism.”

A spokesperson for the UK Home Office, in a statement, said: “We condemn the intimidating and hooligan behavior we witnessed last night in Portsmouth.”

He added: “The right to hold peaceful protests is one of the fundamental principles of our democracy, but this right must never be allowed to turn into disorder and chaos.”

By blocking the roads, the protesters tried to prevent the departure of 140 people who, hours earlier, after crossing the English Channel with a small inflatable boat, had arrived in Portsmouth. Police officers equipped with riot shields moved in and warned the protesters that they could be arrested if they did not leave the area.

In Portsmouth, the protesters said they wanted to prevent the transfer of the occupants of this boat to the asylum processing center in the county of Kent.

Another gathering had also been held on September 5 at the port of Dover in eastern England in protest against the arrival of migrants by boat.