- Published
At around seven o'clock last Saturday morning, dozens of men dressed in black climbed into the backs of lorries in a quiet Kent village called Preston-next-Wingham.
asserted
dozens → publish → Wingham
The men had arrived under cover of darkness the night before, leaving their cars everywhere: in the village hall car park and on the recreation ground.
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men → arrive → ground
In an operation with a degree of military precision, the small fleet of lorries departed for Dover just after sunrise, where the men staged an intimidating show of strength near the port.
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men → depart → port
In disciplined, serried ranks, they wore paramilitary-style balaclavas as they blocked roads around the port.
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they → wear → port
There were at least three waves of arrivals, including the men who had spent the night in Preston-next-Wingham.
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who → be → Wingham
Glaring ominously at motorists and police officers, they stood their ground.
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they → glare → ground
Hardened anti-immigration campaigners were using their newly developed tactics for the first time.
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campaigners → use → time
It bore little resemblance to the running battles seen in cities in the Midlands in the days of Tommy Robinson's original vehicle, the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL).
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It → bear → vehicle
"I seriously thought we'd been invaded by Russians," a Dover resident, Robin Burkhardt, told the BBC.
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resident → think → BBC
The main organiser Danny Thomas, known to his supporters as Danny Tommo, said on Instagram afterwards: "This is our warning."
The style of protest is a new development in the crowded world of British hard-right and far-right politics.
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style → know → politics
It was visually striking, and the men - who were part of a new group called Patriot Platform - chanted "Christ is King" as well as "Stop the Boats".
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Christ → call → Boats
On Sunday, using a social media live stream, Thomas was able to organise a second, more impromptu protest of a few hundred people in his home city of Portsmouth.
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Thomas → use → Portsmouth
His activists tried to block coaches that had come to collect migrants, who had arrived illegally, brought ashore after making the long journey from Normandy in France.
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who → try → France
On Thursday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood met senior police officers and urged them to make full use of their powers to stop activists wearing face coverings.
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Mahmood → meet → coverings
"These scenes have caused disruption for people and, given that people are dressed in black wearing balaclavas, there is a fear factor and obvious malign intent being communicated to our residents," she said.
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she → cause → residents
"This makes it different from other protests, so we need to make sure we are learning lessons."
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we → make → lessons
Some of Patriot Platform's disruptive, eye-catching tactics seem to have been borrowed from environmental groups like Just Stop Oil.
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Some → catch → Oil
But its leaders are also getting ideas and funding from the growing "Christian nationalism" seen in the United States.
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leaders → get → States
It organisers say they are building a working-class "voting bloc" to persuade political parties on the right to adopt their agenda.
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they → say → agenda
The website for Patriot Platform was registered on 18 May this year, two days after a big anti-immigration "Unite the Kingdom" march in London.
uncertain
website → register → London
Thomas, its most visible founder, first posted about the group on YouTube on 8 June.
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Thomas → post → June
"We need to be a bit smarter," he said, referencing arrests or offences including the assaults on police officers and violent disorder during recent Unite the Kingdom marches, that had been organised by Robinson.
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that → need → Robinson
"Good men and women are now away from the fight stuck in jail cells."
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men → stick → cells
Thomas told his supporters he had a few ideas that would be "more powerful than committing acts of violence and criminal damage".
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that → tell → violence
There needs to be a "different MO", he said.
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he → need → ?
"We are looking for the strong, the able, the ones that are willing to do things a bit different.
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that → look → things
"
What sets Patriot Platform apart is the scale and co-ordination of their action, says William Allchorn of Anglia Ruskin University, an expert on far-right movements.
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Allchorn → set → movements
"There hasn't [previously] been co-ordinated mass activism with hundreds of people descending and trying to take matters, as it were, into their own hands," he says.
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he → co → hands
Thomas spent the summer posting further videos about the group and staging meetings in the North West, Essex, Leicester and Kent.
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Thomas → spend → West
He said he was trying to organise a "mass resistance" movement.
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he → say → movement
What happened in Dover demonstrated some of his new ways of working.
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happened → happen → ways
They arrived in well-organised waves in the backs of lorries.
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They → arrive → lorries
They did not engage with the media, and said little to members of the public whose journeys and weekends they were disrupting.
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they → engage → journeys
Then, after a few hours, before the police could get organised, the men all marched off to Dover Priory Station and left.
uncertain
men → organise → Station
Estimates vary as to how many were there but it looks like between 200 and 500.
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it → vary → 200
The anti-racism group Hope Not Hate said Patriot Platform should be seen "for what it is: a far-right network of men happy to intimidate and inconvenience an entire town for what was effectively a publicity stunt".
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what → say → town
Nick Lowles, the group's CEO, said Thomas had "been upfront about his intention to create a 'patriotic army that is able to take control of the United Kingdom'".
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that → say → Kingdom
At a protest outside the Daily Mail offices in London on Wednesday, Thomas could be seen giving clear instructions to his supporters about his preferred tactics.
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Thomas → see → tactics
"Don't intimidate anyone," he ordered.
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he → intimidate → anyone
"No one talk.
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one → talk → ?
…and 29 more, not listed.
