Anti-migrant protesters gather as 149 migrants brought ashore in southern England

About 150 anti-migrant demonstrators gathered in the southern English town of Gosport to oppose the arrival of 149 migrants who crossed the English Channel in a small boat, according to local authorities and media reports.

The migrants were rescued in the mid-Channel by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), alongside a French vessel, in an operation Sunday.

They were later taken by coach to a processing center in Kent, the Home Office said.

The standoff at a marina in Gosport lasted into the early hours of Monday, with flares set off and several scuffles reported between protesters and police.

A police cordon was established on Haslar Road, where the atmosphere largely remained peaceful.

Some demonstrators stood in front of police vans to prevent them from advancing, chanting “shame on you” and “deport the lot,” according to the BBC.

Hampshire Police said it had deployed officers to “support our partners in the event of an emergency at sea.”

The force also imposed conditions under the Public Order Act and used powers prohibiting the wearing of face coverings.

Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones called on the home secretary to intervene, saying UK Border Force should have the capacity and vessels to transfer migrants at sea to Dover.

“No sites across the southern coastline of Britain should be used as ‘landing sites.’ We are not equipped and we do not have the resources to keep policing this,” Jones said.

Posting on social media, Jones said: “Each protest is costing me £150,000 of taxpayers’ money from my police budget which I can ill afford to spend.

“That means there is less police officer time on the streets of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight - urgent action is needed. This has got to stop.”

The migrant dinghy appeared to have departed from near Utah Beach in Normandy on Sunday morning, according to ship-tracking data cited in the report.