Children of RNLI Volunteers Face Bullying Due to Migrant Rescues

Children of volunteers with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) have been subjected to bullying at school due to their parents' involvement in rescuing migrants in the English Channel. Volunteers at a Gosport lifeboat station have also faced public abuse and online harassment following the arrival of small boats carrying migrants.

Allegations of bullying were raised during a Portsmouth City Council debate concerning the awarding of the Freedom of the City honor to the RNLI. A letter submitted to the council detailed how children of two crew members were targeted at school because of their fathers' roles with the charity.

Volunteers have reported being confronted in public, and some have had their personal details published online. Suspicious vehicles have also been observed near the lifeboat station. The volunteers have been branded as 'traitors' by some.

In response to these incidents, one RNLI lifeboat station in Portsmouth was temporarily closed due to threats. Volunteers have been advised to avoid wearing their distinctive badges in public to prevent confrontations with anti-migrant protesters.

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, who co-proposed the motion to honor the RNLI, expressed deep concern about the "abuse, intimidation and threats" directed at the organization, emphasizing its 200-year history of saving lives at sea and calling for "unequivocal support" for the charity.

Councillor Billy Ansell stated that RNLI volunteers respond to emergencies without regard for an individual's nationality, religion, or politics, and that disagreements over immigration policy do not justify hostility towards the crews.

An attempt by Reform UK councillors to amend the motion to remove criticism of the RNLI being described as a "taxi service" for migrants was defeated. The original motion to grant the RNLI the Freedom of the City passed with 25 votes in favor, 11 against, and one abstention. The station's letter suggested the recognition would serve as a "huge moral boost" to the volunteers.

The situation follows an incident on September 6 where two RNLI all-weather lifeboats rescued 120 migrants attempting to cross the Channel from France and brought them to Eastney Point. The subsequent landing of migrants sparked protests in Gosport and Portsmouth, leading to multiple arrests for violent disorder and injuries to police officers.

Elsewhere, the Poole Old Lifeboat Museum was forced to close temporarily due to verbal assaults on its volunteers by anti-migrant protesters. The Royal National Institute of Blind People also had to issue a statement clarifying they are unrelated to the RNLI after receiving threats.

RNLI Chief Executive Peter Sparkes condemned the actions of those who "hide behind a balaclava or a keyboard," calling their behavior "wholly unacceptable." He noted that recent events have led to "deliberate misinformation and a misunderstanding about the RNLI," resulting in "online and, in the worst cases, physical abuse" of volunteers and staff.

Last year, the RNLI assisted over 36,000 people through its lifeboat and lifeguard services, with crews launching more than 9,000 times to aid those in distress at sea. The organization maintains that its crews have a duty to rescue anyone at sea, irrespective of their circumstances.