Hundreds of anti-migrant protesters marched through the coastal town of Gosport on Sunday afternoon, waving England and Union flags and chanting "deport the lot" and "remigration now" — days after the town learned it will host a redeveloped immigration removal centre.
The march, organised by a group calling itself "Gosport Patriots" according to posts on social media, was held in opposition to "undocumented men being held" at the Haslar Immigration Removal Centre in the Hampshire town, the PA news agency reported.
A town divided over Haslar
Dozens of counter-protesters held a static protest near the town's ferry port, carrying signs reading "fight ignorance, not immigrants" and "refugees welcome, celebrate diversity." Police kept the two groups apart, using police vans and horses, and powers prohibiting face coverings were in place in some areas of Gosport on Sunday. The protests passed largely peacefully.
It was not Gosport's first flashpoint over migration. Some 12 people were arrested earlier this month at a protest against the arrival of migrants in the town after a small boat crossing.
The centre at the heart of the row
The Home Office said earlier this year it was proceeding with plans to open a redeveloped immigration removal centre next year at the former Haslar centre, which was closed in 2015.
The centre would be a "mixture of refurbished and new-build accommodation built to the latest standards, taking account of findings from external scrutiny reports and internal lessons learned reviews to provide modern, safe, secure accommodation for detained men," the Home Office said.
Around 130 bed spaces will be created through the refurbishment of the existing accommodation, compared with 198 places at the former centre when it closed. Subject to planning permission and necessary approvals, a second phase would provide around 470 additional places, increasing Haslar's total capacity to around 600.
For Gosport, the march was the latest sign of how fiercely the national fight over immigration is now playing out street by street — in a town that never asked to be on the front line.
Fuentes: PA via Gazette & Herald, Hillingdon Times, Wandsworth Times.