Men dubbing themselves ‘migrant hunters’ have reportedly clashed with police on French beaches while trying to prevent small boats leaving for Britain. 

Photos from beaches in Calais show hard-Right activists clashing with France’s CRS riot police as immigrants wearing life jackets walk towards the shore. 

French aid organisation Utopia 56 said the militants, reported to be Brits, had been confronting both migrants and police on beaches along the country’s west coast.

It is alleged one activist was heard shouting: ‘I don’t speak to black people’, while others had been waking migrants up in nearby camps to tell them: ‘You are not welcome’. 

One group was seen making Nazi salutes, according to the aid organisation, which added: ‘It’s definitely an escalation. There are more people, doing more things, confronting people and trying to make them angry.’ 

The group are understood to have helped incite an anti-migrant protest which turned ugly in Gosport, Hampshire, on the weekend after alerting demonstrators of a boat carrying 149 immigrants heading for the south coast, according to The Times. 

The vessel had been picked up by two RNLI lifeboats in the English Channel and followed to shore after leaving a beach in Normandy on Sunday. 

Hampshire Police said 12 arrests were made after about 350 protesters gathered on the approach to Gosport’s Fort Blockhouse, where migrants later disembarked. 

A migrant pulls a hat over his face while being confronted by hard-Right protestors in Gravelines, France, last month

A French police officer slashes a dinghy abandoned by migrants in Gravelines after its engine failed

Immigrants are ushered back to the shore by officers after a failed voyage from the west coast of France last month

The scenes on the beaches of Calais this week come 10 months after the French interior ministry announced it had banned ten Britons from the country for inciting violence and threatening public order. 

Far-Right activist Daniel Thomas, who goes by Danny Tommo, was one of those banned. 

After being kicked out of France, the Patriot Platform leader travelled to Belgium, where he was detained by local police and returned to Heathrow Airport. 

Thomas is currently being held in custody after pleading not guilty to criminal damage for allegedly slashing a migrant dinghy in the English Channel last month.

At least four major anti-migrant protests have taken place on Britain’s south coast this autumn, with demonstrators taking to the streets of Dover, Portsmouth and Gosport in recent weeks. 

On Sunday, police were forced to issue a dispersal order covering the entirety of Gosport, meaning local people would be required to leave the area if instructed by officers or face arrest.  

A series of arrests were made throughout Sunday evening into Monday in the town, a Hampshire police spokesman said, with suspects including 11 men aged between 22 and 59, and one 57-year-old woman.

They were held for offences including assaulting a police officer, failing to comply with conditions placed on the protest, criminal damage and racially aggravated public order.

One protester, Toby, a 26-year-old chef, said: ‘I hadn’t been to the last ones. There are a lot of people that take it too far, but how can you trust the police when they’re doing this?

Dozens of protesters turned out to a demonstration in Gosport, Hampshire, on Sunday waving ‘stop the boats’ flags 

Flares were set off and there were scuffles with police in the town

‘They’re hiding the entire process from us because they know it’s wrong. You see all these people in France and they’ve just been let in.’

Migrants brought into the port were taken by coach to the Home Office’s processing centre at Manston in Kent.

The Home Office confirmed 418 migrants reached the UK on Sunday.

The Channel route was busy again on Monday as Border Force vessels picked up migrants throughout the day and brought them into Dover. 

Yesterday’s arrivals were yet to be confirmed but were thought to number more than 500.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We thank everyone involved in this operational response, including the police, whose efforts were instrumental in bringing the demonstration to a safe conclusion.

‘We will work closely with partners to ensure public safety is maintained. The government has established contingency plans to deal with small boat arrivals further along the coastline.

‘Over 48,000 crossing attempts have been prevented since the election, and ongoing efforts to close every asylum hotel have saved British taxpayers more than £1billion in asylum support.’