Kent Police has said it was made aware of the potential for protests in Dover on Friday 4th September, a full day before they took place but the information “was not fully assessed”.
A large group of protesters blocked access to the Port of Dover on Saturday for several hours, with witnesses reporting hearing chants of “stop the boats”.
Kent Police had previously said it did not know about the demonstration in advance and that it was “spontaneous”, leading to accusations of a failure in intelligence-gathering.
But the force said a review had found it received non-emergency information late on Friday which may have allowed it to “consider its resourcing”, but did not share what it was told.
A force spokesperson said “The protest organisers adopted a different approach to previous protests, and as part of our commitment to public safety we have examined our decision-making to identify any lessons, to ensure we are well prepared for future events organised in a similar way.”
“During that initial review, we found the force had received non-emergency information late on Friday evening that a protest could take place in the town the following day. This information was not fully assessed. If it was, it may have allowed the force to consider its resourcing.”
Dover District Council deputy leader Edward Biggs called the announcement from Kent Police “very worrying” and “really poor”.
He added: “It’s very disappointing. We rely on the police providing us information so that we can inform the community and take whatever steps we need to take.”
In their defence, Kent Police said the information it received “would not have prevented the lawful protest from taking place, nor the disruption experienced by the town, port and wider community”.
No arrests were made on the day of the protest, police said.
Demonstrators said that they did not want to talk to the media, although one said “send them back” and another said “stop the boats” when approached. There is growing unrest and discontent around the number of immigrants arriving in the country and that the public are not being told the truth.
The Home Office has declined to comment.
