Charities in northern France say they are concerned by the presence of British anti-immigration agitators on beaches and near migrant camps. The groups have filmed themselves for social media attempting to intimidate people waiting to cross the Channel and the aid workers supporting them.
Issued on: 11/12/2025 - RFI
A makeshift camp housing migrants in Loon-Plage near Dunkirk in northern France, 24 September 2025. AFP - SAMEER AL-DOUMY
On 5 December, videos livestreamed on social media show three men taking the ferry from England to France, to carry out what amounts to an anti-migrant patrol.
They can be seen in various areas on the northern French coast. In Dunkirk, they confronted members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), accusing them of assisting an "invasion".
On the beach in Gravelines, one of many where small boats set out on the risky Channel crossing, the men shouted insults at people they believed to be aid workers.
"We're very worried," Stella, a representative of Calais-based NGO L'Auberge des Migrants, told RFI.
Charities working in the region estimate that British activists have carried out 10 similar stunts since the summer of 2024.
"We keep reporting what is happening to all the authorities," Stella said. "We don't know how far they might go."
On 5 December, videos livestreamed on social media show three men taking the ferry from England to France, to carry out what amounts to an anti-migrant patrol.
They can be seen in various areas on the northern French coast. In Dunkirk, they confronted members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), accusing them of assisting an "invasion".
On the beach in Gravelines, one of many where small boats set out on the risky Channel crossing, the men shouted insults at people they believed to be aid workers.
"We're very worried," Stella, a representative of Calais-based NGO L'Auberge des Migrants, told RFI.
Charities working in the region estimate that British activists have carried out 10 similar stunts since the summer of 2024.
"We keep reporting what is happening to all the authorities," Stella said. "We don't know how far they might go."
Far-right initiatives
The incidents appear to be part of a trend stoked by figures on the British far right.
Le Monde newspaper identified one of the men involved in the visit last week as Ryan Bridge, co-founder of Raising the Colours, a nationalist group that organised a campaign to hang or paint flags across the UK earlier this year.
It named another as Danny Thomas, an associate of prominent far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The pair last month posted online about what they dubbed "Operation Overlord" – a reference to the Allied invasion of occupied Europe during the Second World War that landed on the beaches of northern France – and called for donations to support trips to France.
Videos shared online appear to show other members of the group in northern France in November, some brandishing English flags and claiming to have destroyed dinghies used by migrants.
While Raising the Colours remains a grassroots movement, British anti-immigration political party Ukip has also been backing the trips. In June, the party's leader Nick Tenconi filmed himself in northern France and appealed to other people to join him.
The party has since launched what it calls a "Border Protection Team" with a mission to "defend our islands".
Attack on migrants
French organisations report that they have been forced to be vigilant after a series of alarming incidents.
In early June, around six men – dressed in black and speaking English – tried to force their way into a centre in Calais where NGOs deliver food and other aid to migrants.
On the night of 9-10 September, four men carrying the flags of England and the UK attacked migrants as they slept in Grand-Fort-Philippe near Dunkirk and took their belongings, according to NGO Utopia 56, which filed a police complaint.
Based on an account given by one of the victims, the group believes the perpetrators were the same individuals seen in a video later shared by Ukip, said Utopia 56's coordinator, Viktor Meyer.
The Dunkirk public prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into "aggravated assault".
The story was adapted from the original version in French by Marie Casadebaig.
'Stop the boats': British far-right activists accused of harassing migrants in Calais
EXPLAINER
British activists have made multiple visits to the beaches of northern France in recent weeks, saying they want to stop undocumented migrants from crossing the channel in small boats. Migrant support groups say the activists are encouraging violence and xenophobia.
Issued on: 11/12/2025
FRANCE24
By: Joanna YORK
‘Stop the boats’
Another video shows the leaders of the group being stopped for an identity check by French police, before being allowed to continue.
“Within ten seconds they opened the window of their vehicle to continue openly harassing the migrants, even though the police were just ten metres behind them,” said the spokesperson from L’Auberge Des Migrants.
“There is a striking discrepancy. The migrants, who are covered by international protections, are constantly being checked, expelled and dispersed [by the police]. And, yet, when far-right groups suddenly turn up, nothing is done. These people move around the coastline completely freely, harassing exiles live on social networks,” they said.
Members of Raise the Colours were detained by French police for a few hours on December 5 before being released.
The group has claimed online that it has amassed 5,500 people who say they are willing to travel to France and “stop the boats”. Along with calling for volunteers, it has appealed for donations, stab-proof vests, thermal cameras, drones and encrypted radios.
Raise the Colours did not respond to FRANCE 24’s request for comment.
EXPLAINER
British activists have made multiple visits to the beaches of northern France in recent weeks, saying they want to stop undocumented migrants from crossing the channel in small boats. Migrant support groups say the activists are encouraging violence and xenophobia.
Issued on: 11/12/2025
FRANCE24
By: Joanna YORK
Migrants leave the beach after failing to cross the Channel to Britain, November 6, 2025, Gravelines, northern France. © Jean-Francois Badias, AP
British far-right activists have in recent weeks increased their efforts to stop unregulated migration in the English Channel by travelling to northern France in a bid to deter migrants from making the crossing.
Videos posted on social media show members of far-right group Raise the Colours in Normandy claiming to have found and destroyed small boats that would have made the journey across the Channel and directly confronting supposed undocumented migrants.
The activists say they are a “civilian border control force” aiming to “stop an invasion of illegal immigrants” coming to the UK.
They claim the UK and France are not doing enough to stop illegal migration across the Channel.
But migrant support associations say lack of action from French and British authorities to stop the group is “encouraging violent and xenophobic practices”.
“These are people who come to France with the express intention of committing crimes such as harassment. They are a threat to public order," said a spokesperson from L’Auberge Des Migrants, one of nine associations that issued a statement calling for France and the UK to take action against the group.
“The measures that are being taken [by the authorities] are totally inadequate in view of the real threats that members of this far-right group pose,” they added.
Small boats
In the past decade, the English Channel has become the largest port of entry for illegal migration into the UK, with 37,000 people making the crossing in 2024 – one of the highest annual levels in the past ten years.
The figures broadly are broadly similar across Europe, where the rate of unauthorised arrivals by sea has risen rapidly since 2015, most significantly in Italy, Spain and Greece.
The small boats – meaning the inflatable vessels often used to ferry migrants between Calais and Dover – have become a particularly provocative issue in the UK.
Britain’s far right has for years pushed the narrative that the boats are filled with criminals who pose a threat to British society, especially women and children.
For a “significant minority” of UK voters, the small boats have come to symbolise the idea “that the UK government has lost control of its borders, and that many of those trying to get into the country are from countries whose culture and religion is seen as alien and dangerous”, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
Amid the rising popularity of right-wing party Reform UK, the issue has also come to dominate mainstream politics, with Keir Starmer’s government announcing numerous measures to deter illegal Channel crossings.
READ MOREFirst migrant deported under the UK's 'one in, one out' deal with France
Operation Overlord
Against a backdrop of increasingly vocal anti-immigration sentiment, Raise the Colours spearheaded a campaign over the summer to cover the UK in national flags.
The group has denied the flagging campaign is an attempt to promote racist messages, although the UK’s far right has a long history of using national flags as a symbol to promote its values.
In recent times, these include “issues such as managing borders, criticising government policies around immigration and broad patriotic themes,” said Paul Jackson, professor in the history of radicalism and extremism at the University of Northampton.
British far-right activists have in recent weeks increased their efforts to stop unregulated migration in the English Channel by travelling to northern France in a bid to deter migrants from making the crossing.
Videos posted on social media show members of far-right group Raise the Colours in Normandy claiming to have found and destroyed small boats that would have made the journey across the Channel and directly confronting supposed undocumented migrants.
The activists say they are a “civilian border control force” aiming to “stop an invasion of illegal immigrants” coming to the UK.
They claim the UK and France are not doing enough to stop illegal migration across the Channel.
But migrant support associations say lack of action from French and British authorities to stop the group is “encouraging violent and xenophobic practices”.
“These are people who come to France with the express intention of committing crimes such as harassment. They are a threat to public order," said a spokesperson from L’Auberge Des Migrants, one of nine associations that issued a statement calling for France and the UK to take action against the group.
“The measures that are being taken [by the authorities] are totally inadequate in view of the real threats that members of this far-right group pose,” they added.
Small boats
In the past decade, the English Channel has become the largest port of entry for illegal migration into the UK, with 37,000 people making the crossing in 2024 – one of the highest annual levels in the past ten years.
The figures broadly are broadly similar across Europe, where the rate of unauthorised arrivals by sea has risen rapidly since 2015, most significantly in Italy, Spain and Greece.
The small boats – meaning the inflatable vessels often used to ferry migrants between Calais and Dover – have become a particularly provocative issue in the UK.
Britain’s far right has for years pushed the narrative that the boats are filled with criminals who pose a threat to British society, especially women and children.
For a “significant minority” of UK voters, the small boats have come to symbolise the idea “that the UK government has lost control of its borders, and that many of those trying to get into the country are from countries whose culture and religion is seen as alien and dangerous”, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
Amid the rising popularity of right-wing party Reform UK, the issue has also come to dominate mainstream politics, with Keir Starmer’s government announcing numerous measures to deter illegal Channel crossings.
READ MOREFirst migrant deported under the UK's 'one in, one out' deal with France
Operation Overlord
Against a backdrop of increasingly vocal anti-immigration sentiment, Raise the Colours spearheaded a campaign over the summer to cover the UK in national flags.
The group has denied the flagging campaign is an attempt to promote racist messages, although the UK’s far right has a long history of using national flags as a symbol to promote its values.
In recent times, these include “issues such as managing borders, criticising government policies around immigration and broad patriotic themes,” said Paul Jackson, professor in the history of radicalism and extremism at the University of Northampton.
Police officers escort protesters near Epping, London on August 31, 2025, after a temporary block on housing asylum seekers at a local hotel was overturned. © Alberto Pezzali, AP
The flagging campaign has been run “in ways that almost stake a nativist claim onto neighbourhoods and is used to intimidate people, explicitly targeting migrants”, added Aaron Winter, senior lecturer in sociology at Lancaster University.
In the past few months the group has documented journeys to France online, including livestreams of members posing as accredited journalists to confront suspected illegal migrants and hiding in sand dunes to watch nighttime activity in the Channel.
One video posted to the group’s social media channel in early November shows a member wading in to the shallows, shouting that suspected undocumented migrants on a boat in the distance are “potential rapists” and “murderers”.
“We don’t want them in our country!” he shouts, before later calling for viewers to join the campaign and travel to France.
In late November the group announced it would increase its activities in France in an operation dubbed "Overlord" – also the codename for the Battle of Normandy, in which more than 160,000 allied troops landed in France to begin the liberation of Western Europe during World War II.
The flagging campaign has been run “in ways that almost stake a nativist claim onto neighbourhoods and is used to intimidate people, explicitly targeting migrants”, added Aaron Winter, senior lecturer in sociology at Lancaster University.
In the past few months the group has documented journeys to France online, including livestreams of members posing as accredited journalists to confront suspected illegal migrants and hiding in sand dunes to watch nighttime activity in the Channel.
One video posted to the group’s social media channel in early November shows a member wading in to the shallows, shouting that suspected undocumented migrants on a boat in the distance are “potential rapists” and “murderers”.
“We don’t want them in our country!” he shouts, before later calling for viewers to join the campaign and travel to France.
In late November the group announced it would increase its activities in France in an operation dubbed "Overlord" – also the codename for the Battle of Normandy, in which more than 160,000 allied troops landed in France to begin the liberation of Western Europe during World War II.
‘Stop the boats’
Another video shows the leaders of the group being stopped for an identity check by French police, before being allowed to continue.
“Within ten seconds they opened the window of their vehicle to continue openly harassing the migrants, even though the police were just ten metres behind them,” said the spokesperson from L’Auberge Des Migrants.
“There is a striking discrepancy. The migrants, who are covered by international protections, are constantly being checked, expelled and dispersed [by the police]. And, yet, when far-right groups suddenly turn up, nothing is done. These people move around the coastline completely freely, harassing exiles live on social networks,” they said.
Members of Raise the Colours were detained by French police for a few hours on December 5 before being released.
The group has claimed online that it has amassed 5,500 people who say they are willing to travel to France and “stop the boats”. Along with calling for volunteers, it has appealed for donations, stab-proof vests, thermal cameras, drones and encrypted radios.
Raise the Colours did not respond to FRANCE 24’s request for comment.
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