Protest at police station following far-right activist Danny Tommo’s arrest after dinghy slashed in Channel

An estimated 200 people have gathered outside a police investigation centre where political activist Daniel Thomas is under arrest.

The group - of nearly all men and some with Union flags - arrived together just before 6.30pm after social media posts urged them to be there at that time.

The protesters, who were mostly in black, and some with face coverings, milled about in the road, chanting “free DT” and many took mobile phone footage of the protest.

Thomas, 37, also known as Danny Tommo, had uploaded footage on YouTube appearing to show him being arrested as an officer told him he was being detained on suspicion of criminal damage “recklessly endangering someone’s life”.

He had been filmed slashing the side of a dinghy in the English Channel with a rescue crew member still on board.

A spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said: “A man has been arrested after a boat that had an emergency responder on board was damaged in the English Channel.”

Hundreds of anti-migrant protesters gathered in Gosport on Tuesday under the belief that a boat of asylum-seekers, which had travelled from France, would be brought to shore.

Six people were arrested by officers during the evening, the force said.

The boat eventually docked in Dover, Kent, at around 12.30am on Wednesday after 51 migrants on board reportedly refused help from a French ship and spent 33 hours at sea.

The government said on Wednesday it must “push further and harder” to stop migrants crossing the Channel after more than 700 people arrived in the UK – the highest number for a single day so far this year.

Education secretary Lucy Powell said not every migrant boat could be intercepted after two vessels landed undetected on British shores within two days.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command, said the failure to intercept the two boats was “not acceptable”.

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