Protesters clashed with police after dozens of migrants arrived at a historic naval port by small boat, apparently using a new route to avoid detection.
A large dinghy was seen travelling towards Britain from waters near Utah Beach in Normandy on Sunday morning.
The vessel was reportedly monitored by French coastguard and rescue boats during its journey across the Channel to the UK.
The Home Office said 149 migrants were believed to be aboard the dinghy and would be taken to Kent for processing.
About 300 protesters gathered near Haslar Marina in Gosport after migrants were brought ashore aboard two RNLI boats late on Sunday evening.
Flares were fired into the night and scuffles broke out with police as demonstrators shouted, “Send them back” and “You’re not welcome.”
Toby, a 26-year-old chef who lives nearby, said he had joined the protest after seeing reports about it on Twitter.
“I hadn’t been to the last ones. There are a lot of people who take it too far, but how can you trust the police when they’re doing this?
“They’re hiding the entire process from us because they know it’s wrong. You see all these people in France and they’ve just been let in.”
Anti-migrant protesters gathered in Gosport, where flares were set off and scuffles broke out with police
Dozens of protesters attended the demonstration, waving flags bearing the words “Stop the boats”
Protesters clashed with police after migrants arrived on the Hampshire coast by small boat
A man waves a Union Jack during clashes with police over the arrival of migrants in Gosport, Hampshire
Red flares were set off during the evening as protesters and police faced off in Gosport
An RNLI boat transported the migrants ashore after they reportedly made the journey from Normandy in France
“We’ve seen what they’re capable of. It’s affecting the whole country, but Gosport is getting the worst of it,” he told The Sun.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said officers had been deployed to Gosport to “support our partners in the event of an emergency at sea”.
Ambulances and coaches were seen in the area as the operation continued.
The force introduced conditions under the Public Order Act and used powers to prohibit people from wearing face coverings.
A Government spokesman said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border. We have established contingency plans to ensure that all small boat arrivals can be securely disembarked, checked and processed.”
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‘Migrants will be transported to short term holding facilities in Kent where they will be processed as normal and undergo stringent health, security and biometric checks.’
Reform UK Hampshire councillor George Madgwick posted images appearing to show police officers and coaches in the Fareham area.
He claimed they were in the area ready for ‘a small boat due to land locally’.
The latest crossing comes just days after a similar operation caused tension in nearby Gosport when hundreds of protesters gathered over reports that a migrant boat was due to arrive there.
That dinghy, which had travelled from Normandy, eventually arrived in Dover after spending more than 30 hours at sea.
The 51 people on board had reportedly refused assistance from the French coastguard before British rescue vessels intervened.
The incident sparked a major police operation in Gosport, with six people arrested as officers dealt with protesters.
Three people were subsequently charged over offences including assaults on emergency workers.
Departures from further west along the French coast have been relatively unusual in recent years, but there have now been three such crossings in the space of a month.
The longer journeys mean boats can spend many hours at sea before reaching British waters, while their eventual landing point can be difficult to predict.
The Government has stressed that Border Security Command monitors the Channel around the clock and that those arriving by small boat are subject to checks and processing.
Police are preparing for the possible arrival of another migrant dinghy on the south coast after a small boat was spotted making its way across the English Channel from France
The movement of the boat has prompted preparations in Hampshire, with local officers understood to be ready to respond if it reaches the coast
A Government spokesman said: ‘The Border Security Command works around the clock to monitor the Channel and protect our border. It is vital we continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.’
Official figures show the number of small boat arrivals remains significantly lower than at the same point last year, despite continued crossings.
The Home Office recorded 526 arrivals on September 27 and a further 61 on September 29, with no arrivals recorded on several other days in the final week of September.
The provisional total for Channel crossings this year is 19,451, according to figures cited by officials, down 43 per cent on this point last year and 23 per cent below the figure at the same stage in 2024.
The latest Border Security Command annual report said small boat crossings had begun to fall but remained a ‘persistent and adaptive threat’, warning that organised crime groups could change their tactics and seek to increase journeys when conditions were favourable.
The Government has also been working with France to prevent departures, with French authorities reporting hundreds of small boat crossing attempts stopped under the latest UK-France arrangements.
