An RNLI boat that picked up 140 migrants in the English Channel was denied entry to two larger ports and forced to bring the migrants ashore during large protests, it has been revealed.

The RNLI boat was also threatened with legal action if it approached either Southampton Port or Portsmouth Harbour, Hants, and tried to bring the migrants ashore.

The crew was forced to bring the migrants to Eastney, Hampshire, where around 500 protestors met police, firefighters, Border Force and other officials opposing the operation to bring the migrants ashore.

Eastney is in Portsmouth but is several miles further along the coastline than Portsmouth Harbour.

Large crowds blocked traffic along the road leading away from the port, with photos showing police carrying riot shields forming a blockade. This came just a day after the anti-illegal migrant protest in Dover.

A broadcast on an open marine VHF radio detailed that Southampton Vessel Traffic Service and King’s Harbour Master Portsmouth denied the RNLI permission to enter both of their ports and their approaches.

It comes after the migrants were being transported by lifeboat crews to the mainland yesterday, with the boats eventually docking in Eastney instead.

The broadcast also informed the RNLI coxswains from Bembridge and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight that failure to comply with this would lead to direct criminal prosecution against them.

A spokesperson for Associated British Ports (ABP) confirmed the crew was told not to come to Southampton.

They said: ‘ABP did receive an enquiry about landing recovered migrants at the Port of Southampton. We had to decline the enquiry as the Port did not have suitable reception facilities available. If there had been a safety of life at sea issue where Southampton was the closest port or if we had received a formal Direction from the authorities, then we would have played a role.

‘Neither was the case in this situation.’

The Home Office has condemned ‘intimidating and thuggish behaviour’ of the protestors on the beach.

They said: ‘All of those brought ashore have left the landing site and are being transported for processing in the usual way.’

The RNLI aided more than 36,000 people across its lifeboat and lifeguard services in recent annual figures, with crews launching over 9,000 times per year to assist those in distress at sea.

RNLI lifeboat crews have always launched to the rescue of those at sea without judgement or preference.

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