A 38-year-old man has been charged in connection with a protest held in Gosport on Sunday evening regarding the arrival of migrants in the Hampshire town. Jamie Bennett, a resident of Thyme Avenue in Whiteley, Fareham, faces a charge of failing to comply with a prohibited assembly direction. He has been bailed and is scheduled to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court on 26 November.
The demonstration, which took place on Haslar Road, involved approximately 150 anti-migrant protesters. During the stand-off, participants set off flares and engaged in scuffles with police. Some demonstrators blocked police vans from advancing, while chanting slogans such as "shame on you" and "deport the lot." Police reported that a small number of officers sustained minor injuries at the scene, though none were considered serious.
The protest followed a mid-Channel rescue operation conducted by the RNLI and a French vessel, which resulted in 149 migrants being brought ashore at Gosport. In the wake of the demonstration, police made a total of 12 arrests, including 11 men aged between 22 and 59, and a 57-year-old woman. Among those arrested were a 59-year-old man from Gosport suspected of racially aggravated public order, a 39-year-old man from Emsworth held on suspicion of criminal damage, attempted criminal damage, and possession of a pyrotechnic article, and a 29-year-old man of no fixed address arrested for obstruction of a highway after ambulances were prevented from traveling along Clayhall Road.
The 11 individuals who have not been charged remain on bail while inquiries continue.
