Morag Mitchell

George, again, you are presenting all of those resources as though they were required simply to “protect illegal migrants”. ⠀ That is not what the police themselves say. ⠀ There were 149 people brought ashore. ⠀ They had to be transferred from RNLI lifeboats, medically assessed where necessary, placed onto coaches and transported securely to holding facilities in Kent for processing. ⠀ But there is another rather significant reason for the police presence. ⠀ PROTESTERS. ⠀ Hampshire Police explicitly said officers were deployed both to support the emergency response AND to facilitate peaceful protest. ⠀ They imposed Public Order Act conditions. ⠀ They introduced powers relating to face coverings. ⠀ They imposed a dispersal order. ⠀ Why would they need those measures if this was merely 149 people quietly stepping from lifeboats onto coaches? ⠀ Because crowds were gathering around Haslar Marina. ⠀ And the police already knew from the previous incident in Gosport what could happen. ⠀ On that occasion six people were arrested. ⠀ Charges included alleged assaults on emergency workers and a racially aggravated public-order offence. ⠀ So when you film a substantial police escort and describe it as: ⠀ “Look at the enormous security being provided for migrants” ⠀ you are leaving out a very important part of the reason that security was necessary in the first place. ⠀ The coaches were travelling through an area where people had specifically gathered to protest their presence. ⠀ That is rather different from some presidential-style motorcade being provided as a luxury. ⠀ And your comparison with Donald Trump is rather theatrical. ⠀ Trump receives protection because he is a former and current US President and an obvious security target. ⠀ These coaches required policing because officers had to move people safely through a developing public-order situation. ⠀ People absolutely have a right to protest peacefully against immigration policy. ⠀ But there is a rather obvious contradiction in encouraging large numbers of angry people to gather at the place where migrants are arriving, and then expressing astonishment that the police deploy substantial resources to keep everybody separated and safe. ⠀ If nobody gathered to confront the coaches, considerably fewer public-order officers would be required. ⠀ So perhaps some of the people complaining about the cost of the police operation should acknowledge what was actually creating much of the policing requirement. ⠀ Again, context matters.