‘It positions the harassment of migrants as a public duty’

Anti-immigrant activists are travelling to northern France to intimidate asylum seekers. Holly Bancroft investigates this disturbing new trend, and the far-right groups promoting it

- Holly Bancroft

Dressed in a black T-shirt, a black cap and a pair of black leather gloves, Ukip leader Nick Tenconi addresses the camera from a road in northern France. In a direct appeal to “men in Britain”, he’s here to advertise a disturbing new trend, which he tells the camera could be “the next big thing” - organised trips to northern France to harass small-boat migrants.

“Why aren’t we coming out here and making them feel incredibly unwelcome and creating a hostile environment?” he asks.

This year, far-right agitators have been making trips to Calais and Dunkirk to harass migrants waiting to attempt the perilous Channel crossing from France to the UK, and the charity workers who support them. Seemingly not satisfied with targeting asylum seekers in the UK, these men have travelled to northern France to film migrants sleeping rough, wake them up in the middle of the night with flashing lights, and tell them they are not wanted in Britain.

In June, Mr Tenconi said that British men who want to curb migration to the UK have a “duty” to turn up in France and harass the destitute migrants. Since then, he has made several visits, and reports of groups of men harassing asylum seekers have become a regular occurrence for the NGOs that work in Calais.

Though Ukip, which is a registered political party, claims to be “spearheading” the trips, other people have also been making the journey - including a group called Raise the Colours, who were involved in putting up union jack and St George’s flags this summer.

The Ukip visits are part of a new project called the Border Protection Mission, an initiative that has raised more than £21,000 so far, according to its online fundraising account.