Portsmouth this evening

[Shmoigel]

Has anyone else seen the news about what’s happening in Portsmouth this evening
A boat has arrived in Hampshire and the protesters from Dover are currently in the sea blocking passage with hundreds more on the quay blocking coaches waiting.

Ah. The cherry picking of what’s “low” and what’s completely acceptable on this thread. 🤣

I have a disability too (a “proper” one with a blue badge and all). I was pointing out the sheer political hypocrisy, how right-wing populist platforms historically target social safety nets and vulnerable groups.

I didn't 'use' her disability against her. I pointed out the reality of supporting far right political rhetoric, which she is doing. Parties that scapegoat minority groups and promote division rarely stop there and their policies consistently target support systems for disabled people. It's not low to point out that voting to strip rights away from one vulnerable group eventually comes back to bite others. Hard.

And tbh I’m really, really not interested in trying to persuade people that the videos of the action at Portsmouth are real.

Some people try very hard not to see what’s happening in this country. I couldn’t live like that but for some people it’s important to put an awful lot of energy into keeping reality at bay. I’ve honestly got better things to do with my time than try to persuade these people.

You do you.

Apologies if I have missed this information, I only read about half the thread- but is this ongoing? I tried to find it on bbc live news and nothing - mostly about German election

You won't find it on BBC, a mention maybe.

Download X.

Oh memory did serve correctly.

Inside secret police warehouse as Germany targets small boats gangs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpq809zrvqdo

Inside a warehouse in a secret location in Germany, thousands of life jackets and dozens of dinghies are stacked on top of each other after being seized in a raid on smuggling gangs.
[...]
Until recently, however, key anti-smuggling laws in Germany only applied to nations within the EU's zone of free movement, not to third countries, which included the UK after Brexit.
In 2024, Germany said it would tighten its laws to make it easier to prosecute those helping to ferry migrants to the UK, as part of a new plan agreed between the two countries.
[...]
Lawyer Bernhard Schmeilzl, who specialises in UK-German law, points out that the legal situation is essentially as it was before Brexit.
However, he believes it will make a difference, even if stretched German law enforcement agencies may be more likely to focus on domestic matters.
"This now enables the German police to go after these people," he says. "If they are being notified about such suspicious activity, they will have to investigate."
Enforcement and migrant sources have told the BBC that the gangs are coming under more pressure in Europe, including in Germany.
Channel crossings overall are on course to be lower this year, but illegal entries into Europe have also been falling.
The UK Home Office says its work with countries like Germany "is bearing fruit".

I used to vote left too. Like so many of us.

I’m another who used to be on the left, the far left even @Braveboys. I’ve found it fascinating watching some major accounts on Twitter as they journey to the right over the last few years.

Diversion from thread - do people ever go the other way, right to left?

I’ve struggled to understand why the Navy can’t be used to stop the boats.

The Royal Navy were used for almost a year in 2022 under Operation Isotrope whilst the Home Offices Small Boats Operational Command was formed.

But that comes down to what “stop the boats” means. With recent calls again to use the RN and especially Reforms “policy announcements” the Navy has repeated that its officers will not obey illegal orders, they would pick up people in unsafe boats. When someone is picked up by the Navy, coastguard, lifeboat etc and state a claim for
asylum they enter the UK legally. If they land themselves and declare to the authorities to claim
asylum they become legal.
Then they need to be processed.

Teresa May introduced the immigration policy of a deliberate “hostile environment” and cut the resources aimed at processing applications. Instead of people deciding not to come to spend years stuck in a process it had the opposite effect that those who expected to fail processing would in fact get to stay much longer. Chance it for a few years stuck in a system.
The way to “stop the boats” is to actually process those who have arrived and even better to establish a process that can be initiated overseas instead of having to pay gangs to put them on boats

I daresay the videos are real. Not sure that proves anything other than what you want it to prove.

I have seen on the news hundreds of what appear to be men turning up at Dover and Portsmouth wearing dark clothes and balaclavas, so that is going to be co ordinated isn’t it? Why are they wearing such clothes and masks? What are they intending to achieve apart from news interest? Are people seriously trying to imply that I’m naive for thinking I would find these people intimidating? When these are the costumes of criminals everywhere and have been for centuries? Have a word with yourself. Learn to think from both sides of the argument in an open minded and honest way. And maybe, just maybe wonder if Twitter/X and posters on there are entirely balanced and trustworthy. Just exactly as I would if I was looking at either Twitter/X or Bluesky or the Express or The BBC or The Guardian or The Mail or any other msn or social media. That really is free thinking

instead of having to pay gangs to put them on boats

Freudian slip?

Sorry I managed to quote the wrong person.

@PinguMoll have you got shares in Twitter/X or something?

Yes it’s on the BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyegwl9vzqo

I saw some footage on Twitter / X. Someone was also live streaming on TikTok. It’s classic extremist activist stuff - try to make out there are far more protesters there than in reality.

I agree with whoever said upthread that any social media is not a verified news source.

There are dozens of political protests every week, so the mainstream media is selective about what they will cover, but this is already covered by the Times, Independent, Guardian, ITV and GB news. There’s also often a delay before publication because journalists work to quality standards and stories have to be verified before they go live.

And it’s on Sky fwiw https://news.sky.com/story/140-migrants-in-one-small-boat-intercepted-in-english-channel-sky-news-understands-13582562

Not a Freudian slip.

For the government to introduce a process for Mr Asylum Apllicant to walk into the consulate and initiate an asylum application and go through the process whilst overseas instead of Mr Asylum Applicant paying a criminal gang for a space on a boat in order to get to the UK to initiate their asylum application and sitting in a process in the UK

@ShakeMeUpJudie used to be far left did you, aye?

But “the government” are part of the British population too. They have to live here too. Why would they knowingly arrange to have a load of illigal immigrants arrive here and then have to deal with them, and the consequences of their behaviour?

Oh they are masking up for those reasons are they @Braveboys? Sound just like the trans activists we see who also enjoy intimidation

Or indeed Mrs, Miss or Ms Asylum Applicant.

This is the system currently used for Ukrainians, who can apply in Ukraine.

As always, women always get fucked over by all sides.

Women who might want to escape the countries these asylum seekers are coming from are all too often unable to make the journey because it’s too dangerous for them as women. Or they try, and disproportionately die in the process.

Women in Britain are already being abused by their own countrymen, who they can’t get away from. And now, they’re being expected to accept men coming in from countries where women have very few rights – men who see women as lesser beings, to be used or abused. But of course, the men who are protesting the boats frequently have DV convictions themselves.
There’s no winning.

But I would say that not having (traumatised, unskilled) men come into the country, who are socialised to view women as inferior, is preferable to having them come in.