Volunteer lifeboat crews who rescued around 140 migrants from a packed Channel “mega-dinghy” have been targeted in a shocking online campaign after anti-migrant activists circulated their names, faces and personal details.
Balaclava-clad protesters have branded RNLI volunteers “traitors” for doing what the charity says is their fundamental duty — rescuing anyone in danger at sea.
Members of Bembridge and Yarmouth RNLI on the Isle of Wight have become the focus of an escalating backlash following Sunday’s dramatic rescue operation, which saw around 140 migrants brought safely ashore after their vessel entered British waters.
Two volunteers appear to have been singled out for particular abuse, with photographs of the pair circulated across social media alongside accusations that they had “facilitated the invasion of Britain”.
One widely shared post featuring the men’s faces declared: “These 2 helped facilitate the invasion of Britain last night.”
More than 1,600 comments followed.
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Some demanded the volunteers be put on trial, while others called for them to be “named and shamed” as “traitors”.
The extraordinary backlash erupted after RNLI crews responded to the emergency involving a vessel believed to have travelled from the Cherbourg area — dramatically further west than the traditional Calais-to-Dover migrant route.
Having completed the rescue, lifeboat volunteers were reportedly confronted by men in another boat who shouted: “How do you feel bringing illegal migrants into this country?”
The confrontation has since spilled into a wider campaign against the lifesaving charity, with other RNLI stations finding their social media pages flooded with hostile messages.
The protests follow chaotic scenes in Portsmouth and Dover over the weekend, where demonstrators attempted to prevent migrants being transported to processing facilities.
Protesters insisted they were engaged in peaceful demonstrations, although clashes broke out and police were forced to deploy riot officers. Several officers were injured and official vehicles damaged during the Portsmouth disorder.
But the targeting of individual RNLI volunteers has prompted a fierce backlash of its own.
Supporters have flooded social media with messages defending the crews and sharing personal stories of being rescued by the charity.
Marian Boyd, the Conservative mayor of North East Lincolnshire, revealed the RNLI had once saved her life after she was caught in a storm during a yacht race.
She said: “I was in a yachting race and caught in a storm when the RNLI came out to rescue us.
“I was so anxious out there in the mouth of the Humber. It was freezing cold, and I have never been so glad to get back on dry land.”
The RNLI has made clear that its volunteers have no discretion over who deserves to be rescued.
A spokesman said: “We are a voluntary lifesaving rescue service, tasked in the UK by HM Coastguard to assist anyone who is in trouble on the water.
“We will rescue those in danger without judgement or preference, as the RNLI has been doing for more than 200 years.”
Isle of Wight West MP Richard Quigley also condemned the backlash, warning that some people had deliberately exploited the Portsmouth protests to target the charity.
“RNLI crews are volunteers. They volunteer to save lives at sea. And yesterday, they did just that,” he said.
“They don’t discriminate or ask questions of those they’re tasked to assist.”
The Government has meanwhile condemned the disorder surrounding the protests as “intimidating and thuggish behaviour”.
The escalating row leaves Britain’s volunteer lifeboat crews caught in the middle of the increasingly bitter political battle over the Channel crisis — targeted simply for answering the call when lives were in danger.
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