On two successive mornings, hundreds of masked men in black appeared without warning at English ports, exposing not merely a gap in police intelligence but a deeper question about how democratic societies recognise and respond to organised extremism when it clothes itself in the language of lawful protest. Kent police admitted they had received advance warnings they never acted upon, and the mask-wearing laws designed for precisely such moments went unused. What unfolded at Dover and Portsmouth — and in the harassment of the volunteers who rescued 120 people from the sea — is a reminder that t
Government demands better intelligence after far-right port protests catch police off guard
RNLI volunteers and staff received online and physical abuse, with demonstrators attempting to identify and track down rescue workers' addresses.