The sister of murdered Rhiannon Whyte took part in anti-migrant demonstrations in Portsmouth which saw protesters wade into the sea to try to block a boat packed with asylum seekers arriving from France.

Alex Whyte, whose sister was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver by Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek while waiting at a train station in October 2024, travelled four hours to go to the protest at Eastney Beach on Sunday.

More than 500 demonstrators spent at least five hours on the beach and later tried to block the road to prevent the 140 asylum seekers from being transported to a processing centre in Kent.

Alex, who is raising Rhiannon's son, said: 'I'm proud to be here and angry obviously at the fact we've allowed more [migrants] in.

'We get to as many [protests] as we can humanely get to. I've just driven four hours to get to this tonight because it's a worthy cause. We should be here, we should be stopping them. The whole country should be here.'

After killing Rhiannon, Majek, 28 – who claimed to be 18 – spent the night dancing and drinking alcohol in the car park of the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall, which was housing asylum seekers and where Rhiannon worked.

Alex and her family are campaigning to introduce Rhiannon's Law, which would see undocumented asylum seekers detained while their applications are processed.

She said she met with Government ministers earlier in the week, who she claimed 'promised me that the boats were stopping'.

She added: 'There was a lady from housing around the table who basically said your local councils won't offer housing to your homeless and to your veterans.

'I walked away from there and said if they stick to what they say then great but we have had so many broken promises.'

Dozens of anti-migrant protesters waded into the sea in Portsmouth to confront 140 asylum seekers rescued from a packed mega-dinghy which had been allowed to leave France.

The group sprinted across the town's Eastney Beach and entered the water yesterday afternoon, chanting 'stop the boats' and 'enough is enough' at the moment migrants arrived on a UK Coastguard vessel.

Clips posted online later showed asylum seekers being ushered off lifeboats to shore, where they were met by several buses which took them to the Marston processing centre in Kent.

Hundreds of demonstrators blocked the road to try to stop the coaches leaving. After being dispersed by riot police in the early hours today, some got into cars and followed the buses on their journey to Kent.

It is the second major UK anti-migrant protest in two days after groups of masked men blockaded the Port of Dover on Saturday.

Eastney is just four miles from the Port of Portsmouth and the HM Naval Base, home to six Royal Navy destroyers and its two flagship aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

In protest footage shared on social media, a riot officer appeared to be pushed from his motorbike as demonstrators, many wearing caps and hoods, shouted: 'Shame on you.'

Further clips showed officers carrying shields ordering the crowd to 'get back' before pushing some protesters away from a nearby police van.

The demonstrators remained in the area until almost midnight amid chaotic scenes and multiple clashes with officers near the waterfront.

The protest is thought to have been spearheaded by hard-Right influencer Daniel Thomas, the Tommy Robinson associate whose Patriot Platform group organised a mass demonstration in Dover on Saturday.

Livestreaming the protest Thomas – also known as Danny Tommo – said: 'It was only yesterday (in Dover) when we warned them that we will not accept this any more, and that it is no longer an option to tell us the boat numbers are down.

'This isn't about the numbers being down. This is about understanding that this has to come to an end now.'

The demonstration went on until 3am today, when police threatened to arrest them after a dispersal order for the area was put in place.