France and UK failing to tackle anti-migrant activists'

"According to Raise the Colours on social media, 5,500 people have offered to go to France to intervene to stop the boats, something it says the UK and French authorities are failing to do. Raise the Colours has circulated appeals for stab-proof vests, plate carriers, high-powered torches, thermal cameras, drones and encrypted radios. It defines itself as a true professional civilian border control force, ready to take control of the beaches."

"We have been monitoring the social media accounts of these various groups daily and reporting them to the public prosecutor and prefecture. However, even though we hear our alerts are taken seriously, to date nothing has been done to prevent them from coming to the beaches along the coast. When the far right advances unchecked, human rights erode."

"The group Raise the Colours, which has organised the hanging of St George and union flags on lamp-posts and other street furniture across the UK, has launched Operation Overlord, a reference to the Normandy landings in the second world war. On Friday, members of the group were in France targeting migrants for harassment and searching for dinghies buried in sand dunes to destroy. Some were detained by French police for their actions."

Anti-migrant British activists travel to northern France to obstruct small boat Channel crossings, harassing migrants, searching for and destroying dinghies, and displaying nationalist imagery. The group Raise the Colours launched Operation Overlord and mobilised thousands of volunteers, circulating appeals for stab-proof vests, thermal cameras, drones and encrypted radios while describing itself as a civilian border control force. French associations working with encamped people condemned UK and French authorities for failing to prevent interventions. Utopia 56 reported incidents to police; some activists were detained but released. Observers warn that unchecked far-right advances erode human rights and escalate xenophobic violence.

Read at www.theguardian.com