It’s a warm Sunday afternoon in October in Gosport and news has spread of a potential small boat crossing the English Channel heading towards the Haslar Marina.

It’s not long before hundreds of anti-migrant protesters have gathered, some donning balaclavas and carrying flares, to demonstrate on the waterfront.

Meanwhile, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the RNLI, and Border Security Command work to bring the boat of migrants hoping to claim asylum ashore safely amid a swirl of hostility.

Similar scenes have played out in towns along the south coast of England in recent months. Far-right anti-migrant groups, such as Patriot Platform – led by activist Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo have become more adept at organising large protests against small boat crossings at short notice in places like Gosport, Dover and Portsmouth.

Police have had to work quickly to understand the new tactics being used to disrupt authorities’ responses to crossings.

After the first protests in Kent and Hampshire last month, a national coordination group was set up to immediately debrief what happened and what police needed to learn from the protests.

The National Police Chiefs' Council’s (NPCC) protest lead Andy Mariner told officers have had to adapt quickly to the new methodology and were up to the challenge of making sure any potential criminality was dealt with.

But it hasn’t come without difficulties. Mr Mariner said: “We have had hundreds of police officers at these different protests over the last few weeks, and that does place a strain on local police resources without doubt.”

While he recognised the democratic right to protest, he said: “I would much prefer it that the police officers were actually left in their force areas dealing with the crime that local people want them to be dealing with rather than being distracted by this.”

Already multiple arrests have been made as part of investigations into suspected public disorder following demonstrations in Gosport and Eastney Marina in Hampshire. But it’s not just the number of protesters that has posed this new challenge - it is keeping track of their plans to mobilise.

Hope Not Hate researcher Alex MacKinnon said demonstrators are organising across a number of mainstream platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Instagram.

“In Patriot Platform’s case, events seem to be coordinated in smaller private chats, the details of which are then disseminated publicly by the groups which make up the network,” he said.

“This public dissemination occurs at very short notice. Part of the group’s branding is that they are able to mobilise the network within hours, which is something we have not seen a lot of in the past. Typically, a far-right protest of 200 people would occur after weeks of promotion."

Mr Mariner explained that police were using a mix of community and social media monitoring tools to keep track of the gatherings. As well as monitoring live streams and posts on social media, they look at the sentiment

“I think generally they're coming from local areas, and they are mobilising quickly,” he said. “But we're on top of that. We are able to scan that environment.”

“They are communicating in different ways that we've adapted to really quickly,“ he added.

“We will be monitoring social media feeds, we will be listening to community intelligence and getting our intelligence feed from our local and regional intelligence units, and that's what we will use to respond.”

Dr Georgios Samara, a lecturer in public policy at Kings College London, said that the “brand new” tactic has gone beyond deterrence, creating a culture of fear.

“This is brand new because they are now trying to use direct action in a more coordinated and collective way to target migrants. They are becoming more ruthless, and that reflects the wider political climate. I do not think their aim is simply deterrence as they are trying to create a broader culture of fear.”

Mr MacKinnon added that while the far right have “monitored” channel crossings for a prolonged period, there has been a transition from from these actors simply “reporting” on asylum seekers to them actively attempting to create a hostile environment.

“While the far-right have always filmed and created content relating to small boat crossings, we have seen an escalation of tactics over the past year, and then again over the past three months, which has amounted to a far more hands on and intimidatory approach.”

RNLI staff and volunteers have reported experiencing threats of physical harm and harassment as they work to make sure those on small boats cross the channel safely.

Patriot Platform leader Thomas recently denied a criminal damage charge after he was accused of slashing a boat in the English Channel with an emergency responder on board.

“In terms of tactics, video content has always been a dominant part of anti-migrant content around small boat crossings. Historically, small handheld cameras have been used previously from the shoreline in coastal towns to film arrivals,” Mr MacKinnon said.

The researcher added that not only have the far-right taken to disrupting small boats as they reach UK shores, agitators have long been crossing over to France to intimidate and deter asylum seekers staying in Calais.

While police in the UK monitor anti-migrant actors closely, charity workers in Calais told that authorities have done very little to deter far-right actors from travelling to camps where migrants stay. Over the summer, workers witnessed drones flying overhead a number of times and acts of violence and harassment.

Victor, a coordinator for charity Utopia 56, said: “They're normalising this intimidation and encouraging other people to partake and no authorities are doing anything, nor the French nor the British.”

Salomé Brun, communication and advocacy lead at Calais Appeal, said that one of the charity’s members, Calais Food Collective, found a dead bird had been put into the drinking water supply to the sites as they recorded an increase in sabotage to water tanks and intermediate bulk containers.

“The taps of the water tanks are systematically stolen or destroyed in some places,” she said. “Recently we've had a dead bird put into one of our water tanks, which is really, really dangerous for [the people] that are drinking from this water. I'm sure it would make them very sick.

“We were able to spot that early enough, but it's obviously an additional difficulty into our already difficult work to have to always monitor that no one it putting anything into the water.”

“We keep reporting this to the French authorities, to the UK authorities, but those people keep coming over,” said Ms Brun. “we really worry that at some point there will be an escalation of violence and increased use of violence, meaning like lethal weapons being used by those activists.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “While the right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, this should never cross a line into violence and criminality.

“This government is bearing down on dangerous and illegal crossings. Anyone who seeks to take the law into their own hands is putting lives at risk and will face serious criminal consequences.

“Joint efforts with France have seen over 48,000 crossing attempts prevented, with small boat crossings over the summer at their lowest level since 2019.”

has contacted the Calais prefecture for comment.