Nigel Farage-Backed ‘Raise the Colours’ Campaign Pivots to Racially Abusing Migrants and Harassing Aid Workers on French Beaches

The ‘Raise the Colours’ flag-raising campaign, which claims to be a “grassroots” campaign for “unity” and has drawn the support of mainstream political parties and widespread coverage in the British media, has pivoted to stabbing through dinghies and harassing and racially abusing migrants and aid workers in the camps of Northern France, an investigation for Byline Times has found.

The campaign, which coordinated the raising of British and English flags across the country, was praised by Reform leader Nigel Farage as “extraordinary”, suggesting in the Sun newspaper that it was a “patriotic… grassroots movement driven by ordinary people”.

However, charities working in the camps of Calais and Dunkirk report that the anti-migrant, vigilante group, whose members include Danny Thomas, who was jailed for two years for an attempted kidnap, have made five visits to Calais since the beginning of November, where they have been filmed racially abusing migrants, calling them “criminals” and “invaders” and harassing aid workers. 

Lachlan Macrae from Calais Food Collective said: “They [Raise the Colours activists] came up and asked me if I was ashamed of myself, and said they would ‘report my face’ to the British government. They’re unpredictable; we don’t know what they will do, but there is a clear criminal intent. We have filmed them damaging equipment and stealing lifejackets, which will have dangerous consequences.”

Raise the Colour’s website states that it is a “grassroots movement for unity and patriotism” which is “determined to show their pride by flying the flag from one neighbourhood to the next .”

The movement has drawn the support of leading politicians, including Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who wrote in the Daily Mail that the campaign should be “welcomed” and described attempts to take down their flags as “shameful”.

However, evidence sent to Byline Times shows far right supporters of the campaign in France releasing dogs to intimidate migrants and aid workers. Earlier this year Calais Food Collective say a dog attack on one of their staff members making meals for people in the migrant camps, left them hospitalised

The group has already caught the attention of the French police.

Danny Thomas and two other members of Raise the Colours say they were arrested and had their passports seized by the French authorities two weeks ago. They were later released without charge. 

Raise the Colour’s mission, codenamed ‘Operation Overlord’, is funded by supporter donations with over 5,500 people on their Facebook page claiming that they are willing to travel to France to “stop the boats”. The group says that donations are used for stab-proof vests, torches, cameras, drones and radios.

Activists from Utopia 56 have seen Thomas and his Raise the Colours associates on the beaches around Gravelines, close to Dunkirk. “Last month, eight of them arrived in the camp during the daytime waving a huge flag,” said a spokesperson for the charity. “They went around asking people if they were planning to cross and told them they didn’t want them in their country.”

“They came up to our volunteers on the beach,” another source from Utopia 56 said. “We told them to stay in the van, don’t interact and film them. They are so aggressive, we fear they could become physically violent if things don’t go their way.” 

Activists said that Raise the Colours members have also been seen waking up migrants at a bus stop in Dunkirk, attempting to take a man’s bag and becoming verbally abusive when the person refused to give it to them. The source added that Utopia 56 have been removing branded jackets and signs before arriving in the field to avoid being targeted.

Aid workers have attempted to report Raise the Colours to the local prefecture, but have not had a formal response. “It seems like they are waiting for something bad to happen before they press charges of direct violence,” said a member of L’Auberge des Migrants.

“All of this diverts attention away from people on the move, who need our assistance. It takes a lot of time to monitor what they are doing.”

UKIP leader Nick Tenconi has also been seen in the camps targeting migrants. In one video, Tenconi is seen proclaiming: “Northern France is now British territory!” Approaching a group in Calais, he shouted: “You are not welcome in Britain”, and asked if they were “planning to come to Britain illegally.”  

Individuals acting alone have also been seen in the camps and on the beaches of northern France, including activists with large followings such as ‘Ross the Don’.

Charity workers say that the number of British far right groups attempting to harass and intimidate migrants and aid workers has increased since the signing of the UK-France ‘one in, one out’ deal. 

The coordinator for charity Utopia 56 in Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk suggested that the politics of the Labour Government were partly to blame for this surge, stating: “In its immigration policies the current British government takes the measures of the far right into account very heavily. For us, what’s problematic is that whether it’s the agreements signed or the fact that they pushed France to carry out an interception at sea [a measure recently announced by the Maritime Prefecture for the English Channel and North Sea]… it can have the consequence of justifying far-right identitarian groups.” 

Bertrand Ringot, the mayor of Gravelines, told Byline Times: “English people coming over to argue with migrants to try and dissuade them from crossing is completely unacceptable. We strongly condemn these racist acts. We condemn both the English who come to France but also the far right movements in France who come to the coast to exploit this illegal immigration for political gain. It is not up to citizens to make the law, but states, governments and parliamentarians.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We recognise the frustration surrounding small boat crossings. However, taking the law into your own hands will not resolve the issue.

“The Home Secretary has announced the biggest reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, to restore order and control to our borders and make it less attractive for illegal migrants to come to Britain.”

Raise the Colours were approached for comment.

The French Interior Ministry declined to comment.