A UK town has been brought to a standstill as hundreds of masked “stop the boats” protesters blockaded roads and the country’s busiest ferry.The rally took to the streets of Dover, a southeastern gateway to France via the channel ferry, on Saturday morning local time, prompting long queues as trucks and holiday-makers struggled to access the port.Chants of “stop the boats” and “whose streets? Our streets” could be heard from the crowd during the chaos, according to The Sun. The Labour government said in a statement that the “right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but we condemn the behaviour in Dover and the travel disruption it has caused”.Dover and Deal MP Mike Tapp said the incident, which started at about 7am, caused “absolutely awful disruption” for residents.“I am fed up with idiots coming to Dover,” he wrote on social media.“In this instance, it would appear that the police didn’t know about it, and the resources were pretty thin on the ground, to be quite honest from what I saw.”Protester and far-right activist Danny Thomas hit back at Mr Tapp, saying he “might want to take a look at what your own constituents are saying. The comments from people in and around Dover speak for themselves”.Mr Thomas claimed that the “overwhelming majority of the women and local people we spoke to were thankful that people were actually doing something”.Anti-immigration protests are common in Dover because it’s where migrants picked up from small boats in the English Channel are brought to shore. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the protest “disgusting”. “Nobody in any political protest, on the left or right, should appear in balaclavas,” Mr Farage said.“You should not be allowed to be masked up, balaclava-ed up and go out and protest on the streets of our country.“It is wrong at every level. So I deplore what is happening in Dover today.”Footage appeared to show the phrase “blood is on your hands” scrawled near the port along with red paint.Tommy Robinson, a far-right figure who met with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson during her recent European tour, shared footage of the blockade online and described it as a “warning shot to the establishment”.Kent Police said the force had “responded to a spontaneous protest in Dover during the morning of Saturday 5 September”.“No arrests were made. Traffic is flowing normally, and all involved had dispersed by midday.”Read related topics:Immigration