A Gosport councillor has hit out at the “unacceptable” small boat crossings along Britain’s coastline following mass protest in the town on Tuesday.
Speaking to GB News, Reform UK councillor Paul Carter expressed concern for small boats arriving “on the doorstep” of locals after reports of a mega-dinghy headed towards the marina.
On Tuesday night, hundreds of anti-migrant protesters clashed with police in Gosport as fury broke out over an apparent “escort of invading migrants” from an incoming small boat.
Demonstrators assembled outside Haslar Marina in the town ahead of the impending arrival of the mega-dinghy packed with illegal migrants, which had spent more than 33 hours at sea.
Six demonstrators were arrested for “becoming hostile towards officers” following the protest, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed.
French authorities said in a statement that the estimated 60 migrants on the small boat were “determined to take all risks to reach the United Kingdom”.
Reacting to the incident, Mr Carter stressed that the majority of the community who came out to protest were “calm” about the situation.
He said: “I think towards the end of the whole situation last night, it sort of fizzled out. I think there was a bit of agitation by about six people who were arrested last night for various situations.
Reform Councillor Paul Carter has hit out at the ‘unacceptable’ small boat arrivals along the UK border
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GB NEWS / PA
“But actually, the majority of our local community are quite calm. Hundreds of people came out in their droves to say, no, we do not want this boat landing here in Gosport.”
Echoing the concerns of locals, the councillor made clear that many are “worried” about small boats of illegal migrants “landing on their doorstep”.
He told GB News: “There are definitely fears here. A couple of weeks ago was a big, a big wake-up call for the town. If you think about this last night, no one really knew what was happening, a lot of misinformation was out there to the local community.
“I think a lot of people are really worried, especially around here where we are on our peninsula. This is the home of the Royal Navy, and as you can see behind us, a housing estate where hundreds of people live.
Protesters first gathered in Gosport at around 6.30pm | PA“To have that boat land right on their doorstep, it’s just not acceptable.”
Mr Carter also revealed that a meeting organised by Reform UK for Tuesday night to discuss the small boats crisis had to be cancelled due to the protest.
He said: “We at Reform UK here in Gosport put a motion to the council to make sure that we have a really clear communication back to the Home Office and back to the local resilience forces.
“We want to make sure that we have the right information going out to our residents and at the moment, we’re not having that.”
Mr Carter told GB News that the council must be able to provide the ‘right information’ to residents about small boat arrivals
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GB NEWS
Mr Carter continued: “Our council, most frustratingly, last night found out more information from people live streaming on social media about the situation, and that’s just not acceptable.
“We need to be in a position where we can really tell our community what is happening and what the truth is.”
In a statement, a Government spokesman said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”
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