Is Nigel Farage right to call the masked anti-migrant protest at Dover disgusting?
Hundreds of masked men in black blocked roads around the Port of Dover on 5 September 2026 in a 'stop the boats' protest, causing major traffic disruption for several hours. Nigel Farage condemned the balaclava-clad demonstration as disgusting and wrong at every level, arguing no one should protest while masked. The action, linked to the Patriot Platform and supported by Tommy Robinson, drew widespread criticism for being intimidatory.
9 Opinions
What's disgusting is that the protests are even necessary. And they are necessary because of the failure by so many governments, including the current one, to implement the promises and expectations for which they were elected, and for which polling has consistently and overwhelmingly shown: that unlawful immigration and border invasion must stop.
No. Cancel culture makes an open face a risk. Employers get called. Firms get threatened. Police catalogue who came. A mask in that climate is not automatically disgusting. It is how some people can still turn up. I do not need a blockade to say the boats should stop. I will not call a covered face the crime when an uncovered one can cost the job.
Difficult question. People have a right to protest, especially those people who no longer trust the police.
Calling it disgusting is wrong. It was peaceful. People have a right to protest. However, there is a lot of hypocrisy on both sides. You can't complain about Just Stop Oil or masked Pro-Palestine protests disrupting traffic and condone this. Similarly mainstream media and those on the left can't condemn these protests while failing to condemn others. Peaceful protest is one thing, it should not disrupt ordinary people's lives. It ends up being counter-productive.
Hate to say it but on this he's spot on. If you believe in your cause, have the bottle to show your face... marching around in balaclavas and black fatigues is pure intimidation. Blocking Britain's busiest port doesn't stop a single boat in the Channel, it just punishes ordinary lorry drivers and local folk trying to get to work. You can't rightly slate groups like Just Stop Oil for blocking roads and then applaud this mob for doing the exact same thing.
I wouldn't use the word disgusting, but I am against the use of masks. So a bit of both, it wasn't "disgusting" though!