Activist Arrested After Damaging Migrant Dinghy with Rescuer Aboard

Right-wing activist Danny Tommo, 37, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, was arrested Tuesday evening on suspicion of criminal damage and endangering the safety of a vessel after filming himself slashing the side of a migrant dinghy with a rescue crew member on board. He was detained at a BP petrol station.

Tommo faces charges including criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, and conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals. A video of the incident, posted to YouTube and X by Tommo and his associate Tommy Robinson, shows Tommo using a knife to cut the dinghy, which had been used to transport migrants across the English Channel. A police officer is heard explaining the arrest, stating there was information to suggest Tommo was involved in criminal damage that had recklessly endangered someone's life.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirmed that a 37-year-old man of no fixed abode was arrested on suspicion of destroying ships or fixed platforms or endangering their safety under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, and conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. He remains in custody.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, stated on X that Tommo faces serious charges and that legal representation would be funded by Canadian political activist Ezra Levant. Robinson suggested Tommo's actions were a response to government failures regarding immigration.

The dinghy in question had left the Normandy coast on Monday and was carrying 51 migrants who reportedly refused assistance from a French vessel. British rescue boats collected the passengers, who were then transferred to Border Security Command.

In a separate development, three individuals were charged and six people arrested in Gosport following a gathering where activists wrongly assumed the migrant boat would arrive. Charges include assault of an emergency worker and a racially aggravated public order offense. The migrants eventually disembarked in Dover, Kent, early Wednesday morning.

This incident occurs amidst ongoing efforts by UK authorities to manage small boat arrivals across the English Channel. So far this year, 17,480 migrants have arrived by boat, a decrease of 46 percent compared to the same period last year.