RNLI reviews security after volunteers targeted during migrant-related protests

PORTSMOUTH — The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is reviewing security arrangements after volunteers were targeted with online abuse and threats following anti-migrant protests in Portsmouth and Dover.

The controversy followed an operation in which the RNLI, at the request of HM Coastguard, helped deal with around 120 migrants arriving near Portsmouth after a Channel crossing. Protesters blocked roads and some entered the water. Additional lifeboats were deployed partly to protect the protesters who had entered the sea.

Photographs of individual RNLI volunteers were subsequently circulated online with accusations of treason and calls to "name and shame" crew members. BBC Verify established that some posts also misidentified volunteers and attached the wrong names to images.

The charity's chief executive Peter Sparkes described the abuse as wholly unacceptable and said deliberate misinformation had been circulated about the RNLI's role.

Volunteers have now been advised that, in some circumstances, they may wish to avoid wearing branded RNLI clothing away from secure sites. Members have also been urged to wear identification while on station and challenge suspicious individuals attempting to gain access.

The RNLI stresses that its crews do not determine immigration policy. They respond when HM Coastguard tasks them to people in danger at sea, regardless of nationality or immigration status.

Only 109 of the RNLI's 9,058 lifeboat launches in 2025 — about 1.2% — involved people in distress in the Channel, according to figures cited by the charity.

Police are investigating potentially criminal social-media activity, while the government has expressed concern about the doxxing of volunteers.

The underlying issue is becoming larger than the politics of Channel crossings: people who volunteer to rescue anyone whose life is in danger are increasingly being pulled into a deeply polarised national immigration debate.