On Saturday, 5 September, several hundred masked Fascists brought Dover to a stand still. The following night a similar number blocked roads in Portsmouth after reports of the arrival of refugees rescued by the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Who were they, how were they able to leave Dover without arrests, and what could happen next?
The Build Up
Despite reports from some journalistic and a statement from Kent Police, this action was far from ‘spontaneous’, it is quite clear that it was well organised in advance. Hope Not Hate even exposed the fact there were direct calls about it the day before. That the organising had happened, and who had done it was certainly no secret. Right-wing aligned live streamers spoke with participants during the action, and repeatedly stated that it was the work of Patriot Platform
Patriot Platform (PP) is a relatively new organisation, launched in June this year, but its roots reach back much further. PP is led by Daniel Thomas (aka Danny Tommo), who first came to public attention after he was convicted of the attempted kidnap of a man he (wrongly) accused of stealing £10,000 worth of drugs. It was after this that he threw himself into far-right organising, rising to prominence as a ‘bodyguard’ for Tommy Robinson and becoming an organiser in what was left of UKIP after Nigel Farage’s departure. Thomas continued to build links across the far-right, and gained further attention for his international trips, and his targetting of refugees and other migrants. He travelled to France with Raise the Colours, resulting in a ban from the country for harassing charity workers and refugees. Something he was arrested for doing again on this side of the channel. He also travelled to Belfast for the racist riots and pogroms happened there. Like many on the far right he talks of protecting women, but surrounds himself with people who have a history of domestic abuse.
Within this backdrop he began to build Patriot Platform, via a series of meetings across the country where he recruited local Fascists to his cause. While footage of some of these meetings was posted online, they were for the most part secret in advance and ‘invite only’. The group he has built is not subtle in its ideology or intentions. Meetings were conducted like military re-enactments, and their website is full of far-right dog whistles, and noted clearly copied from American-style Christian Nationalism. They make references to ‘homeland’, ‘your children’s future’, and a ‘real Britain’. While on Thomas’ personal Instagram he refers to himself as a ‘Defender of Faith’ and to his workout routines as ‘War Prep’, while compared his group to the English Defence League with the aim of ‘taking control of the country’. Although the narrative from far-right-aligned streamers and Thomas’ emphasised non-violence on the day, it feels important to highlight these appeals to Fascist aesthetics, the use of the language of violence, the group’s origins in regional far-right militancy, and key members’ histories of violence when judging their capacity for violent action at future events.
With the group beginning to form they posted publicly about preparing to ‘send a message’ with an action taking place ‘very very soon’. Organisation of this scale either requires a lot of time consuming grassroots organising, or a big bank balance. PP took the latter approach, with an interview circulating on social media showing Thomas boasting he was transferred £30,000 in just one international donation, from US based international think tank Middle East Forum (MEF) which is composed of ideological conservatives from the UK, American and Israel. It’s president Daniel Pipes is often considered an “anti-Muslim extremist”.
The other element to the growth of PP was their study of successful left wing tactics. Something common to fascists since Hitler first used the word ‘socialist’ in the hope it would trick more German Workers into joining him. The most obvious tactic was the use of a variation of the black bloc commonly used by Anarchists, Anti-fascists, and many others. Likewise the tactic of the road blockade has been common, though by know means unique to, environmentalists for decades. The legal briefings PP handed out on the day were poorly referencing a defence used by anti-war pacifists based around the European Convention on Human Rights. There organising method also seems to take notes from the affinity group models favoured by many anti-capitalist mobilisations, but with the addition of the strict hierarchy favoured by authoritarians.
Dover
From around 7:30am, a large group of far-right protestors – the vast majority wearing black clothing and masks – took to main roads around the Port of Dover, arriving via a mix of public transport and rented vans. Over the following hours groups totalling several hundred people gathered at the Limekiln roundabout, and other major roads close to the Port, blocking them completely.
The crowds directly blocked access to the port via the A20, and within hours local authorities and ferry companies had confirmed significant disruption to the A2 as well. Ships were redirected and ferries cancelled or rescheduled. Throughout the protest there were chants common to far right demos such as ‘stop the boats’, ‘England till I die’.
Police, at least at the national, and likely the higher ups of the Kent force, must have been aware that something was about to happen. However they either underestimated the numbers that would be present, or for some other reason chose not to act. On the morning itself there were to few police to deal with so many Fascists. British police are happy to beat up pacifists with their hands in locks, arrest grannies, but far more hesitant to move against large groups who they believe will fight back.
Far-right live streams showed police telling the attendees that they would not be arrested if they left by 12noon, perhaps the time back up would be arriving for the police. Certainly by the time a large number of Thomas’ followers marched to the train station there seemed to be more police present to escort them along their march.
Four hundred is by no means the largest far right mobilisation we’ve seen, but it is the largest that has happened without warning, and the most disruptive to happen without either official permission or arrest.
Portsmouth
The following night the RNLI, along with the Coast Guard scrambled after report of a ‘small boat’ carrying 140 refugees in the channel. The RNLI boats moved slowly as they were loaded with so many people. They requested permission to dock at a large and secure port in Portsmouth Harbour, but the King’s Harbour Master refused, for reasons they have refused to share. Southampton also refused on the basis they were far from the closest port
The two rescue boats made there way instead to smaller facilities nearby at Eastney in Langstone Harbour, but this left them vulnerable as there was only one way in and out of the area. Again Thomas (a local lad) and his followers came out to block the road, this time with visible support from the openly neo-Nazi White Vanguard and National Rebirth Party. Only their second action and Patriot Platform are making it clear they are on the side of literal Nazis, suggesting Thomas is not interested in keeping up the pretence that he is ‘just a concerned Christian patriot’.
After the Fascists arrived in Eastney what followed was a series of tense stand-offs with the police, and sporadic outbreaks of violence from those in uniform and out of it. The Fascists broke through a gate and smashed windows of official vehicles, while the police struck out with batons, and eventually forcefully dispersed everyone present under threat of arrest. As well as trying, but luckily failing, to get to the refugees huddled on the dock, the various Fascists directed their anger towards the RNLI. On the night and since a campaign of hate has been directed at the organisation in general, and more worrying at specific lifeboat volunteers who had been doxxed. The core beliefs of the lifeboat institute have been consistent across two centuries, they will always rescue anyone in distress at sea no matter who they are. This is infuriating to Fascists who hold the core belief that only certain people deserve to live.
Eventually the refugees were driven away from the port to face the more bureaucratic style of brutality that comes with being ‘processed’ by the British state. Still a significant step up from what could have happened at the hands of the Fascists trying to get to them and the RNLI crew as they reached land.
Responses So Far
The support from Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) perhaps comes as no surprise, especially as he also relies on funding from the same international far right networks that supported Patriot Platform. The condemnation from the majority of politicians was equally unsurprising. Though of course it came without any admission in their part of building up hatred against migrants to cover for the failures of party politics and capitalism, and not a word about how they have not only stoked hatred but created the perfect environment for the growth of fascism.
Nigel Farage was notable in that he was careful to not criticise the substance of the action, only its style. His problem wasn’t the racism or the fascism, but that it was done whilst wearing balaclavas instead of a suit. As if the biggest threat posed by fascists is their fashion sense. This focus on the black outfits and masks has been echoed by politicians and journalists across the political spectrum.
Those seeking to increase authoritarianism, from Reform, the Tories, and Labour, have focussed heavily on attacking privacy and anonymity of people both online and at protests. Alongside existing public order legislation that enabled police to force the removal of masks, we’ve had the addition of the Crime and Police ACT 2026, and Nottingham council using a Public Space Protection Order to ban mask wearing at any time. It is not a coincidence that these laws are coupled with a massive rollout of facial recognition cameras by companies, councils, and the police. It is being accompanied by a massive cultural attack on the idea of mask wearing, especially at protests, where it had become increasingly normalised. The events of this weekend will undoubtedly be seized upon to push us even further towards a totalitarian police state.
What now?
The ability for one body of Fascists to travel to somewhere in such numbers without much if any prior warning is a clear danger to anyone in the UK. Of course refugees are those they are focussed on targetting the most, but as prior Fascists actions have shown, anyone who doesn’t live up to their very narrow definition of a White British Christian can end up in their crosshairs. Asian cafes, LGBTQ events, anti-war protests, and left wing meetings have all been targetted in recent years.
Whilst we should never stop being optimistic, we cannot rely on optimism alone. Ego and internal disagreements might end the Patriot Platform in the near future, but they might not. They may mess up their security or leak information which allows us time to prepare, but they might not. We definitely can’t rely on the police, who always spend more time protecting Fascists than combatting them. Likewise the most infamous national organisation Stand Up To Racism, cannot be relied upon to lead the response. Their focus on party building often leads to tactical mistakes that put people at risk, and strategic decisions that fail at the key task of stopping fascism. Not to mention their repeated backstabbing of those anti-Fascists who have trusted them in the past, and of course the reprehensible rape cover up from their parent organisation the Socialist Workers Party.
Meanwhile the intelligence services and police have cracked down hard on effective antifascists both at a local and a coordinated national level. The police cannot abide anyone proving that safety and security can come from ordinary people, and the government wants to be able to exert control over when are where fascism can rear its head. This has pushed regional and national anti-Fascist coordination largely out of the public eye, making large numbers and quick responses hard to come by, though there have been some very successful mobilisations even in recent months.
So what can we rely on? The short answer is each other. We all have a various focuses in our struggle for a better world, but it is clear that none of us can leave anti-fascism to others. This should be the biggest wake up call yet that anti-fascism is a responsibility we all have to share. We need to be able to respond anywhere, at anytime, and on a massive scale.
At an absolute minimum we should mobilise our networks; political, social and cultural, to respond to calls for support from local anti-Fascist or anti-racist groups. More than that, we should be preparing ourselves, learning the skills to keep each other safe at the front (or back) lines of a demonstration, or supporting from afar. We should be having the conversations about how we can help now, not when the Fascists are already at our doors. We should be reaching out to make the personal connections with those of leading the response, and those most vulnerable to being targetted. We must have our ears to the ground ready to learn of events the minute they happen, and we should make our opposition to Fascism strong and public.
To repeat a deservedly famous line from Angela Davis “In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” This isn’t just in our thoughts and personal actions, we need to ingrain organised anti-racism and anti-fascism into every aspect of our lives, or the Fascists will pick us off one by one.
Strong communities keep us safe, we keep us safe.
A friendly local(ish) Anarchist
P.S. Speaking of the RNLI, Kropotkin noted that “The mutual-aid tendency in man has so remote an origin, and is so deeply interwoven with all the past evolution of the human race, that is has been maintained by mankind up to the present time, notwithstanding all vicissitudes of history.” The men and women of the RNLI are some of the best of us, who day in day put their own wellbeing aside to save the lives of others. There is no care for politics, creed, ethnicity, or any other factor, just someone in need and a team of volunteers we say “We must go!”. All solidarity to them.
Further reading:
Tips For Mobilising Against The Far Right by Anti-Fascist Network
Reporting From Hope Not Hate [1] and [2] and [3]
Physical Resistance 100 Years of Anti-Fascism (book) from Freedom Press
Accusation that Danny Tommo is a groomer on Youtube
State of Hate 2023 – Hope Not Hate
Archive of the Patriot Platform Website For many reasons we don’t recommend visiting the live version.
