UK Anti-Migrant Vigilante Groups Have Surged to At Least 28 in 18 Months, Guardian Analysis Finds

At least 28 anti-migrant vigilante groups have formed across the United Kingdom since the summer of 2025, according to an analysis by The Guardian, which identified 31 active groups total and traced 28 of them to the last 18 months. The biggest wave of new groups appeared in August 2025, following the flag-flying "Raise the Colours" campaign and unrest near an asylum-seeker hotel in Epping, the analysis found, as reported by ua.news.

The groups range widely in size and tactics. Scots Active runs late-night patrols in Glasgow city centre, with members sometimes wearing balaclavas and stab-proof vests. It was one of two groups banned from TikTok this year after reportedly sharing footage claiming to expose migrant hotels, according to The Guardian. Members of Raise the Colours traveled to France multiple times in 2025 and filmed themselves claiming to have slashed migrant dinghies on French beaches. France subsequently barred 10 of them from entering the country.

The British Security Project recruits volunteers for what it calls "visible deterrent patrols" and says on its Facebook page it aims to field 124,000 security personnel in public spaces by 2035. Contacted by The Guardian, a spokesperson pushed back hard on the vigilante label: "The British Security Project is a developing non-profit community protection organisation committed to lawful, peaceful and accountable volunteer action. It has no police or immigration-enforcement powers, does not permit people to be targeted because of their nationality or immigration status, and expressly prohibits vigilantism, intimidation, racism and unlawful discrimination."

Dover and Portsmouth

The surge in group formation coincided with real events on the ground last weekend. Members of the far-right Patriot Platform, led by Daniel Thomas (known online as Danny Tommo), blocked roads near the Port of Dover for several hours on Saturday. Kent Police initially said it had no warning, then admitted officers failed to act on calls made the night before, according to The Guardian.

The following day, Britain's coastguard rescued a boat that French authorities said had departed from Baie de Seine in Normandy, well west of the usual Calais-to-Dover crossing point, according to Channels TV. Channels TV and upday put the number aboard at 140. The Guardian and The British Eye reported 120 asylum seekers were brought ashore at Eastney Marina in Portsmouth. Conservative MP Joe Robertson called the unusual route "extremely concerning," and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said Portsmouth "is not equipped to receive and process people entering the country this way."

About 200 black-clad Patriot Platform members gathered that night, blocked roads and allegedly assaulted several police officers, according to The British Eye and ua.news. Police in riot gear formed a cordon so buses carrying the migrants could reach a processing centre. Officials said the transfer succeeded. The Home Office called the scenes "intimidating and thuggish behaviour" while affirming "the right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood met with senior police officers on Thursday, September 10, and urged them to use their full powers against protesters wearing face coverings, arguing the black clothing and balaclavas "communicated a fear factor and malign intent" to residents, according to upday. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, no ally of the government's migration record, called the display "disgusting" and "horrible" and said balaclavas have no place at political protests. Bishop Arun Arora of Kirkstall separately criticized marchers' use of the cross as "a fashion accessory utilised by opportunists."

Today's Portsmouth march and the mask-ban arrests

On Saturday, September 12, hundreds gathered in Portsmouth under the banner of the South Coast Patriots for what organisers billed as a peaceful protest against illegal Channel crossings, chanting "send back the boats" and carrying signs reading "stop the grooming gangs," according to Breitbart. Counter-protesters marched under the Stand Up to Racism banner with signs reading "no one is illegal." Thomas said Patriot Platform would not officially join, insisting the group is "focused on lawful, peaceful and disciplined action."

Hampshire Police enforced a face-covering ban under section 158 of the Crime and Policing Act 2025 for the demonstration. An elderly man on a mobility scooter removed a plastic mask after officers threatened arrest. A 76-year-old man from Southampton was arrested for concealing his identity while wearing a full burqa. He told police he was converting to Islam and was "gender fluid," and was not part of the protest, Breitbart reported. Since face-covering religious garb is not itself illegal in Britain, the arrest raises an open legal question about how a public-order mask ban interacts with religious dress, one that has not been resolved by any court ruling cited in current reporting.

The two arguments

Vigilante-group organisers, and sympathetic protesters, argue they are filling a vacuum left by police and a government that has not stopped small-boat crossings, which have run into the tens of thousands annually along England's southeast coast. That underlying frustration is real. Hampshire's own police commissioner said the county is not equipped for irregular arrivals it never used to receive.

Critics counter that the movement's growth is dangerous regardless of the grievance behind it. Dr Julia Ebner, an extremism researcher at the University of Oxford, told The British Eye that "at the heart of most vigilante groups is the claim that the authorities are incapable or unwilling to protect a country's citizens," warning this dynamic "can quickly translate into justifications of running their own policing operations or even violent campaigns." Alex MacKinnon of Hope Not Hate described the growth as a "dramatic expansion of far-right grassroots activism" whose community-protection rhetoric can conceal racist intimidation. The National Police Chiefs' Council said officers are trained to respond to incidents safely and that private enforcement action can endanger communities and compromise investigations.

No criminal charges tied to the alleged assaults on police officers in Portsmouth have been announced as of this writing. Hampshire Police has not said whether the burqa arrest will proceed to charge, and it remains unclear whether Mahmood's push for wider use of face-covering powers will extend beyond Portsmouth to the roughly 30 other groups The Guardian's analysis identified nationwide.