Vigilantes are – once again – attempting to launch a military-inspired operation to bring a stop to migrants crossing the English Channel, after previous efforts failed and in-fighting tore one leading group apart following The i Paper’s coverage of their secret plans.
Banned from France after slashing migrant boats last year, one far-right figure is now turning his attention to the English coast.
Daniel Thomas, an associate of Tommy Robinson, is planning to put “50 boats” in the English Channel and to lock down the Port of Dover to stop migrants from entering the UK.
In recent weeks, he has used donations to buy one boat, and his filming at the port has seen him barred from entering Dover.
‘Patriotic army of thousands and thousands’
Now, Thomas has launched an online “platform” to marshal “patriots” across Britain willing to take direct action against people who are not “British” or “English”.
In a publicity stunt for the new venture, Thomas disembarks a rented red double-decker bus, trailed by a group of men and one child. With the group standing behind him in support, Thomas then shouts the details of the launch over rap music playing in the background.
Thomas’ new plan to co-ordinate vigilante action is the resurrection of failed ones touted when he was part of Raise the Colours, a flag-raising group that graduated to destroying England-bound migrant boats last year – efforts that led him and nine others getting banned from France.
The 37-year-old unfurled the plan a day after visiting the sites of violent riots in Belfast that took place last week after a Sudanese migrant was charged with attempted murder.
“What I’ve witnessed in Belfast has given me the inspiration to realise that when everyone gets involved who’s committed, a change can be made,” he said in a video published on Thursday.
“We are going to produce a patriotic army of thousands and thousands of English and British men that are done with protesting, done with walking down roads, and want to make a difference.”
Daniel Thomas cited the recent violence in Belfast last week as ‘inspiration’ (Photo: PA)‘Operation Overlord’
This paper exposed Thomas and Raise the Colours’ efforts last year to co-ordinate anti-migrant actions at the time, named “Operation Overlord”– the codename for the Allies’ invasion of occupied Europe during the Second World War, the largest seaborne military operation in history.
The vigilantes’ plans, meanwhile, never materialised despite their boasts of large sign-ups and floods of donations – and the group split.
Thomas was the face of Raise the Colours, along with Ryan Bridge, who also attempted to travel to Belfast last week but was unable to make it out of Birmingham Airport.
Thomas said of his new plans: “I’m talking about putting 50 boats in the English Channel, I’m talking about taking hold of Dover. I’m talking about taking control of every city in the United Kingdom.”
It’s not entirely clear how he will attain these goals.
Thomas claimed more than 20,000 people had signed up to his new project by providing their contact details for a mailing list. But screenshots posted on his Instagram showed that only around 9,000 “welcome” emails were sent. Thomas’s previous efforts to galvanise other vigilantes to meet in person have resulted in a handful of men turning up.
He did not respond to a request to comment.
Vigilante’s tour of Belfast
Thomas was one of the first English far-right figures to travel to the sites of disorder in Belfast after being invited by a man who told this paper that “foreign national men will think twice before coming to Belfast”.
From Belfast, Thomas issued a call on social media for people in England to “replicate” the unrest that has rocked the Northern Irish capital city.
Businesses, homes and vehicles were set on fire, including a supermarket owned by a Syrian family, while two female Ugandan care workers had to be rescued from their home after a mob trapped them inside and burned neighbouring properties.
The Belfast victim’s family had appealed for calm, saying “overnight unrest is not welcome”. Stephen Ogilvie’s family praised the “deeply valuable contribution” migrants have made to Northern Ireland, saying: “We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”
Thomas was escorted around Belfast by a local man, Darren Reid, 46, who served multiple sentences in prison for violent crimes, including grievous bodily harm and common assault. Reid’s Instagram shows him posing with weapons and replica guns. He told The i Paper that they were ‘toy guns’.
Darren Reid, posing with what he told The i Paper were ‘toy guns’. Other photos on his social media showed the man posing with real weapons at a British Army event (Photo: Darren Reid/Instagram)Reid said he did not take part in the violence, saying “I never threw a stone” and that he was “not proud of my younger days but that’s why we try to teach the younger generation crime is not the answer”.
Asked if he condoned the violent riots, he said: “I support the people of Belfast”.
He warned that more protests will happen, saying that while they will “hopefully be peaceful”, “we are not England, we will get this fixed in not even a year.
“Foreign national men will think twice before coming to Belfast.”
Around 36,000 people arrived by small boat in the year up to 31 May 2026, 13 per cent less compared to the year before, according to analysis of government statistics by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.
No migrants have arrived in Britain using small boats in June. France intercepted 65 per cent – nearly two-thirds – of the migrant boats bound for the UK last month, according to Home Office data. Some 1,819 people were blocked, with 2,816 arriving in the country in May.
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