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Just after 1pm, below the white cliffs of Dover, Nigel Marcham offered his take on one of the most potent symbols of summer. “Kneel for the brothers of this damned country,” Marcham yelled into his megaphone.
Around him, a motley group of far-right supporters, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis knelt on the A20 just outside the eastern docks of Dover. “Thank you for kneeling in the right way,” he said, clearly delighted with his perversion of the global symbol of peaceful protest adopted by millions after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Marcham, also known as “The Little Veteran” and an increasingly prominent far-right figure targeting asylum seekers crossing the Canal by boat, had achieved his goal of closing the entrance to Europe’s busiest ferry port. .
Not many of the 400 who had gathered on the A20 to stop traffic in both directions could believe their feat. “We did. We closed Dover. No more illegal immigrants! Now we have to do what Trump says: help his own first, then others,” said Paul Brockley, 27, of Buckland, north of Dover.
At 1.30pm, the tailback stretched three miles west outside of Dover to the Samphire Hoe Nature Reserve. In the other direction, trucks and frustrated tourists sat bumper to bumper in the depths of the harbor as figures brandishing the Saint George flag danced around the parked vehicles.
Since 10 a.m., a diverse collection of far-right supporters had gathered in Dover to protest Canal ship crossings.
Among them were members of the Pie and Mash Squad, soccer thugs with Nazi supporters, the fascist Britain First and the anti-Muslim For Britain party. Former Combat 18 and English Defense League supporters were also spotted in the crowd.
Later, with the port blocked, some could be seen waving flags of QAnon, the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory endorsed by Donald Trump, while others carried banners attacking conservatives for harboring “illegal immigrants in 4-star luxury. “, a reference to the midrange. hotels where some asylum seekers are staying under coronavirus emergency measures.
Songs of 10 German bombers, the song associated with English football hooligans, Britannia rule and “without soft borders” sounded frequently.
Other messages were blatantly racist, reflecting a summer in which the UK’s far right sidelined its anti-Islamic stance for a more outspoken white nationalist stance in response to the international Black Lives Matter protests.
“There is a problem with the black community. The fact is, all knife crimes are carried out by them. We need a real debate on the black community, ”said Robert de Gillingham in Kent, who declined to give his last name. His girlfriend nodded vigorously.
Others, like Nicole Bushill, tried to distance themselves from the far right, saying they were tired of the “United Nations global department on orderly migration.”
She added: “You have to be very careful with your words. They can no longer be called illegal immigrants. They are now known as help seekers. “
Skirmishes broke out when police lines forced protesters off the A20 and onto the A256 towards the city center, where by mid-afternoon many had congregated in their pubs.
Support for the protest has been bolstered by a number of political figures inflaming tensions over the arrival of refugees by boat.
Chief among them has been Brexit party leader Nigel Farage, who has posted photos of himself on the lookout over Dover looking for ships carrying refugees and has regularly described the newcomers as an “invasion.” Farage even took a widely derided boat trip to the Canal in an attempt to monitor asylum seekers arriving in the UK.
Marcham has also posted her own images of Dover, garnering more than 100,000 views since her channel started in 2018, with much of the content focused on asylum seekers arriving on the South Coast.
Others have resorted to violence, with a migrant attacked last month on a Kentish beach within minutes of arriving from France by boat, believed to be the first known assault on an asylum seeker arriving by boat. little.
The young man was attacked by an assailant who had seen him land at Kingsdown near Deal after crossing the Channel.
Earlier on Saturday, Dover had organized an outdoor event entitled “We Stand With You” in solidarity with the refugees and 4,000 asylum seekers who have reached the Kent coast by boat so far this year.
Among the hundreds in attendance was 26-year-old charity worker Hope Jackson from Thanet in Kent, who said: “I am so sorry for these refugees fleeing war and persecution. How desperate they must feel. “
Londoner and NHS worker Donna Carr, 50, said immigrants had sustained health care during the pandemic and it was important to remember their contribution.
“Where were those on the extreme right then? Were they on the front line risking their lives? Did they take care of the elderly? “
Fears that the far-right might attack the event never materialized, possibly because a heavy police presence, including horses and truck blocks, surrounded the crowd.
The potential for violence had drawn comparisons to the horrific scenes of 2016 when anti-fascists fought far-right protesters on the streets of Dover and more than 60 were arrested.
