Police set to arrest anybody wearing face coverings at Portsmouth migration protest

Groups from South Coast Patriots have called for a peaceful march in Portsmouth city centre on Saturday afternoon, while Stand up to Racism will host a counter-protest march.

Anyone in the designated area wearing a face covering will be committing an offence and could be arrested for concealing their identity, the force said.

It comes as a 42-year-old man has become the first to be arrested as part of an investigation into violent disorder in Portsmouth last weekend.

Anti-migration protesters and counter-demonstrators are set to march in Portsmouth again this weekend after masked men took to the streets a week ago.

Groups from South Coast Patriots have called for a peaceful march in Portsmouth city centre on Saturday afternoon.

It comes as, overnight last Sunday, official vehicles were damaged and a handful of police officers were injured during a stand-off with masked protesters in the port city.

Hundreds of protesters blocked roads and vowed to stop migrants from leaving Portsmouth after they arrived in a dinghy across the English Channel.

The boat, reported to be carrying around 140 migrants, is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat and landings as far west as Hampshire are rare.

The protesters said they were determined to prevent authorities from transporting the migrants to the Manston processing centre in Kent.

A day earlier, crowds of masked men blocked road access to the Port of Dover, in scenes which were condemned by politicians of all parties.

A spokesman for Kent Police said the force has not received notification of any planned protest in the county this coming weekend, adding: "But we are well-prepared should the situation change."

It follows that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood met police bosses on Thursday to get reassurance they are ready to move quickly in dealing with groups seeking to intimidate communities following the events in Dover and Portsmouth last weekend.

She said: "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.

“This makes it different from other protests, so we need to make sure we are learning lessons."

The crowd of approximately 200 people in Portsmouth dispersed at around 4am on Monday morning.

Several police, Coastguard and Border Force vehicles were damaged during the evening.

The force said a small number of officers were treated at the scene for injuries, but they reported no serious injuries.

Detectives have been reviewing hundreds of hours of footage from different sources and cross-referencing it to identify offences.