THE POLICE have triggered a furious response from Express.co.uk readers, who have lashed out at officers for visiting Nigel Farage after he broke coronavirus lockdown rules to travel to Dover to report on the continued migrant crisis.
Nigel Farage came in for fierce criticism on Monday after posting a video of himself reporting on the illegal migrant crisis on the coast at Dover. The clip, shared to his Twitter account of 1.5million followers, showed the Brexit Party leader at the busy cross-Channel port in Kent – apparently in breach of the current coronavirus lockdown rules in force throughout the country. The Brexit Party leader was reported to the police, who paid a visit to his home to advise him on essential travel.
[contfnewc]
A furious Mr Farage wrote on Twitter: “Lockdown lunacy.
“Two police officers just knocked on my door to advise me on essential travel.
“They had received a complaint that I had been to Dover to report on the illegal migrant scandal taking place.
“What a total waste of time and money.”
Express.co.uk readers have now thrown their full support behind Mr Farage in our latest poll, and lashed out at the police for warning him on essential travel.
The poll, which ran from 1pm until 9pm on Tuesday May 5 and saw a total of 4,146 votes cast, asked: “Did police overreact by warning Nigel Farage about essential travel?”
A huge 85 percent (3,501 readers) said the police had overreacted in their advice to Mr Farage.
The remaining 15 percent (630 readers) disagreed, while less than one percent (15 readers) were undecided.
Express.co.uk readers were quick to back Mr Farage and launch a scathing attack on the police.
One person said: “The usual misappropriation of police time and resources then.
“They have become a national embarrassment.”
A second Express.co.uk reader wrote: “You are allowed to travel to work if you cannot reasonably do the work from home.
“How can Nigel report from Dover and refer to the things happening behind him, without being there?
“The modern British police force is becoming more like the Keystone Cops every day.
“Meanwhile, real crimes go up, without the boys and girls in blue even turning up!”
A third person commented: “As a politician, Nigel Farage was doing his duty on what was happening; after all, the media has collectively shut down on anything appertaining to the question of illegal immigration.
“Farage also has a personal interest, since illegal immigrants are coming directly into his home County of Kent!”
The politician’s colleagues had also been quick to throw their support behind him.
Mr Farage’s spokesman he was not breaching lockdown rules by making the 140 mile round trip, as he was acting as a broadcaster – who enjoy key worker status under the current Government guidelines.
Brexit Party colleague Rupert Lowe also fumed: “Utter madness that police are chasing Nigel Farage for reporting in Dover on illegal immigration.
“Journalists have questionably been classified as ‘key workers’.
“Nigel has a radio show – he is a journalist. Surely the police have better things to do?”
Mr Farage had traveled to the Kent coastline on Monday to film a video about migrants entering the country via the popular port.
In the video, which has been viewed nearly half-a-million times, he said: “It’s Monday morning, I’m here in Dover.
“And that’s because I’m not going to let this story drop.
“Lots of press reports over the weekend suggesting I was quite wrong to have come to East Sussex last week.
“This is a scandal and it’s continuing, so I’m here.”
At about 7am on Monday, Border Force intercepted a boat carrying 15 men and one woman, who presented themselves as being Iraqi and Iranian nationals, and were handed over to immigration officials to be interviewed.
Mr Farage said at the time: “I witnessed first hand our Border Force acting as a taxi service for illegal migrants in Dover this morning.
“This scandal continues and people have got every right to be angry about it.”
Border Force officials had also intercepted three boats crossing the English Channel on Sunday, and subsequently brought 49 migrants to Dover.
Thirty-five had already been detained on April 24, while a further 76 migrants had attempted to make the journey the day before.
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
READ MORE FROM SOURCE: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1278313/uk-lockdown-latest-coronavirus-nigel-farage-police-dover-port-migrant-crisis
