As ever more illegal migrants arrive on our shores and anti-immigration protests rock England’s south coast, the British state is attempting to restore order not by stopping the boats, but by punishing the dissenters.

This week, Del Somerville, a 42-year-old father of two, was sentenced to two years in prison for violent disorder at a protest in Portsmouth, which erupted after a ‘small’ boat carrying 114 migrants arrived in the city. The sentence is to serve as a deterrent to others following later protests in the area.

Why, many will ask, is any judge opining on the political palatability of a protest as he sentences someone involved in it?

Why, many will ask, is any judge opining on the political palatability of a protest as he sentences someone involved in it?

On 6 September, Somerville approached a police cordon in an ‘intimidating manner’ and threw an empty plastic bottle he had picked up at officers. Body-worn video footage showed Somerville ‘aggressively pushing’ through the police line, ‘shouting verbal abuse at police officers’ and ‘pointing aggressively’ at them, the prosecution added.

Somerville, a local who spends three nights a week with his boat moored at Portsmouth marina, had been remanded in custody before pleading guilty last week. He awaits trial on an additional charge of assaulting a police officer on a different day, to which he has pleaded not guilty. 

We can all agree that protesters ought........

© The Spectator