Charities in northern France say they are concerned by the presence of British anti-immigration agitators on beaches and near migrant camps. The groups have filmed themselves for social media attempting to intimidate people waiting to cross the Channel and the aid workers supporting them.
Issued on: 11/12/2025 - 15:42
2 min Reading time
On 5 December, videos livestreamed on social media show three men taking the ferry from England to France, to carry out what amounts to an anti-migrant patrol.
They can be seen in various areas on the northern French coast. In Dunkirk, they confronted members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), accusing them of assisting an "invasion".
On the beach in Gravelines, one of many where small boats set out on the risky Channel crossing, the men shoute…
Charities in northern France say they are concerned by the presence of British anti-immigration agitators on beaches and near migrant camps. The groups have filmed themselves for social media attempting to intimidate people waiting to cross the Channel and the aid workers supporting them.
Issued on: 11/12/2025 - 15:42
2 min Reading time
On 5 December, videos livestreamed on social media show three men taking the ferry from England to France, to carry out what amounts to an anti-migrant patrol.
They can be seen in various areas on the northern French coast. In Dunkirk, they confronted members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), accusing them of assisting an "invasion".
On the beach in Gravelines, one of many where small boats set out on the risky Channel crossing, the men shouted insults at people they believed to be aid workers.
"We’re very worried," Stella, a representative of Calais-based NGO L’Auberge des Migrants, told RFI.
Charities working in the region estimate that British activists have carried out 10 similar stunts since the summer of 2024.
"We keep reporting what is happening to all the authorities," Stella said. "We don’t know how far they might go."
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Far-right initiatives
The incidents appear to be part of a trend stoked by figures on the British far right.
Le Monde newspaper identified one of the men involved in the visit last week as Ryan Bridge, co-founder of Raising the Colours, a nationalist group that organised a campaign to hang or paint flags across the UK earlier this year.
It named another as Danny Thomas, an associate of prominent far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The pair last month posted online about what they dubbed "Operation Overlord" – a reference to the Allied invasion of occupied Europe during the Second World War that landed on the beaches of northern France – and called for donations to support trips to France.
Videos shared online appear to show other members of the group in northern France in November, some brandishing English flags and claiming to have destroyed dinghies used by migrants.
While Raising the Colours remains a grassroots movement, British anti-immigration political party Ukip has also been backing the trips. In June, the party’s leader Nick Tenconi filmed himself in northern France and appealed to other people to join him.
The party has since launched what it calls a "Border Protection Team" with a mission to "defend our islands".
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Attack on migrants
French organisations report that they have been forced to be vigilant after a series of alarming incidents.
In early June, around six men – dressed in black and speaking English – tried to force their way into a centre in Calais where NGOs deliver food and other aid to migrants.
On the night of 9-10 September, four men carrying the flags of England and the UK attacked migrants as they slept in Grand-Fort-Philippe near Dunkirk and took their belongings, according to NGO Utopia 56, which filed a police complaint.
Based on an account given by one of the victims, the group believes the perpetrators were the same individuals seen in a video later shared by Ukip, said Utopia 56’s coordinator, Viktor Meyer.
The Dunkirk public prosecutor’s office has opened a preliminary investigation into "aggravated assault".
The story was adapted from the original version in French by Marie Casadebaig.