France bans 10 far-right UK activists for targeting migrant boats

France has banned 10 British anti-migrant activists for attempting to stop migrants and asylum seekers from crossing into the United Kingdom on small boats, the French Ministry of Interior has announced.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said it had been alerted to the actions of activists with the so-called “Raise the Colours” group, “searching for and destroying small boats” and engaging in “propaganda activity” on the northern French coast.

It issued a ban against 10 Raise the Colours activists on Tuesday, effectively banning them from entering and residing in France, the ministry said.

“Our rule of law is non-negotiable,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez wrote on social media. “Violent or hate-inciting actions have no place on our territory.”

The French authorities did not immediately name the 10 people targeted by the ban.

But French authorities have opened an investigation over an alleged “aggravated assault” on migrants in September in a coastal area near the northern city of Dunkirk.

Four men carrying British and English flags verbally and physically assaulted a group of migrants in Grand-Fort-Philippe on the night of September 9 to 10, telling them they were not welcome in England, a charity working with migrants told the AFP news agency.

In a statement shared on X, Raise the Colours said it had not received any “formal notification” from the French authorities regarding a ban.

“Raise the Colours has always maintained that its activities must remain peaceful and within the law. The organisation does not support violence or any unlawful activity,” the statement said.

Far-right activists in the UK have seized on years of migrant and asylum seeker crossings from France – via the English Channel – to advance a hardline, anti-immigration agenda.

Last year, far-right groups rallied in cities and towns across the UK, demanding that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government stop housing asylum seekers at hotels.

In July, data showed more than 25,000 people had crossed the English Channel into the UK by that point of the year – the fastest pace of arrivals since record-keeping began in 2018.