Danny Tommo arrested for slashing migrant dinghy, 300 protesters gather in Basingstoke

Far-right activist Daniel Thomas, 37, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after footage showed him slashing a dinghy in the English Channel. Around 300 supporters gathered outside the Basingstoke police centre demanding his release.

Anti-migrant activist held after dinghy slashing in the Channel

Daniel Thomas, 37, known online as Danny Tommo, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage "recklessly endangering someone's life" after footage emerged appearing to show him slashing the side of a dinghy in the English Channel — with a rescue crew member still on board, the-independent.com reports.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed: "A man has been arrested after a boat that had an emergency responder on board was damaged in the English Channel."

Thomas had uploaded the footage to YouTube himself. In the video, an officer can be heard informing him of the grounds for his detention.

By 6.30pm, an estimated 300 people had gathered outside a police investigation centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, following calls on social media. The group — nearly all men, some carrying Union flags and some wearing hoods or face coverings, mostly dressed in black — milled about in the road chanting "free DT" and filming the scene on mobile phones. About a dozen officers stood between the crowd and the entrance to the centre. The demonstration remained peaceful, with the crowd applauding passing drivers who sounded their horns in support.

The arrest came against a backdrop of heightened tensions over Channel crossings. On Tuesday, hundreds of anti-migrant protesters had gathered in Gosport, believing a boat of asylum-seekers travelling from France would be brought ashore there. Six people were arrested during that evening.

The boat in question eventually docked in Dover, Kent, at around 12.30am on Wednesday, after 51 migrants on board reportedly refused assistance from a French vessel and spent 33 hours at sea.

The government recorded 781 arrivals across 10 boats on Wednesday — an average of 78 people per boat — bringing the provisional total for Channel crossings this year to 18,565. That figure is down 42 per cent on the same point last year and 26 per cent below the equivalent stage in 2024.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command, described the failure to intercept two boats that landed undetected on British shores within two days as "not acceptable." Education Secretary Lucy Powell acknowledged that not every migrant boat could be intercepted.

The government said on Wednesday it must "push further and harder" to stop migrants crossing the Channel, after more than 700 people arrived in a single day — the highest daily figure recorded so far this year.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)