Did Kent Police ignore a 999 call?

On Saturday evening, hours after 300-400 far-right activists, dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, blocked roads around the port of Dover, Kent police defended their inadequate response by claiming that it had been a 'spontaneous protest', of which they had no prior knowledge. We would have to be ridiculously naive to believe that 300+ men, many of whom had travelled from over 100 miles away, could descend on Dover at 7am on a Saturday morning for a protest that was so 'spontaneous' that the police would be taken off guard. Indeed this was not the case. HOPE not hate can now exclusively reveal that Kent police were tipped off about their intentions on the day before. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. We have spoken to two residents of Preston-next-Wingham, a small village of 900 people, who told us that hundreds of men started to arrive in the village last Friday afternoon. 'There were hundreds of them,' one told us. 'They took over the place.' So small is the village that they left their vehicles wherever they could, indifferent to the interests of the villagers. 'They were literally parking everywhere,' our contact told us. 'They parked in the recreational ground, in the butcher's car park, in the primary school, on the roads and even on junctions.' Some of the men congregated in the local pub, where locals were able to overhear some of the plans for the following day. HOPE not hate spoke to one person who was so disturbed by these plans that they contacted the Counter Terrorism Police. But the information that they passed on to the police - that these men intended to go to Dover on the next day and attack Muslims - was apparently of no interest. The caller was told to ring 999. They did. Other villagers seemingly did the same, many with complaints about the careless and illegal parking in the village. A crime number was allotted, but the case was closed with no further action within 24 hoursmuch to the annoyance of locals. The local MP, Sir Roger Gale, who lives in the village, confirms that these accounts are accurate. 'It was a bloody nightmare,' he told me. When asked about the police's claim to have no knowledge of the far-right protest, he scoffed. 'It was not spontaneous, it was coordinated.' Danny Tommo and Patriot Platform used the village as a launchpad for their assault on Dover because Jamie Hamiliton, one of the group's founders, lives there, and his father has a sizable local business which was the chosen venue for that evening's partying. At 5.30am on the Saturday morning a fleet of small Bedford lorries arrived, each of which could accommodate a couple of dozen people. Videos later showed the protesters disembarking from the back of these vans in the port of Dover. Apparently it had been intended that the men would stay a second night in the village, either for a social event or because they planned a second day of protests. In the end, that did not happen - they left the village after they had returned from Dover. Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share Kent police have serious questions to answer. When they had been given clear information from multiple sources that hundreds of far-right activists were planning to descend on Dover on the following day, why did they fail to act? And why did they apparently not alert anyone at the Home Office, who have also denied any prior knowledge of the protest? Why were so few police officers on duty when the protesters descended on Dover and why did Kent police lie to the public about their lack of foreknowledge? Counter-Terrorism police also have questions to answer. Why were they so dismissive when notified about the proposed activities of a large group of far-right activists, even though a caller revealed the name of the group? Given the history of such groups, in this case with the claim that the group was planning to attack Muslims in Dover, surely it should have raised alarm bells and a vigorous response - rather than merely telling callers to ring 999. It is hard not to draw the conclusion that the police and Home Office seem to be incapable of an appropriate response to the threat of far-right activity and violence. While there was no violence in Dover on this occasion, the presence of this gang was threatening, and they have undoubtedly been emboldened by the feeble police response. As a result we can expect more confrontational and intimidatory tactics in the future. The black uniforms and balaclavas should have been a sufficient clue to cause the police to intervene. There is no doubt that they would not have gone on to challenge the RNLI in Portsmouth on Sunday evening if the Dover event had not been regarded as a success. The British far-right is getting more confident and bullish. The Home Office and the police need to get their act together.