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LONDON: Hundreds of masked people protesting Channel migrant crossings blocked access to the Port of Dover in southern England on Saturday, briefly halting traffic being ferried between France and the UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Port of Dover said traffic was \u201cfree flowing\u201d again around noon, hours after being \u201cstopped\u201d on Saturday morning as roads approaching the port were blocked by protesters.<\/p>\n Local police said they were \u201cengaging\u201d with protesters, who had initially blocked \u201call routes\u201d in and out of the terminal, used by ferries connecting southern England to northern France.<\/p>\n Images shared online showed dozens of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas streaming to roads surrounding the port.<\/p>\n In an online livestream that appeared to be shot by one of the protesters, a crowd of black-clothed men chanted \u201cstop the boats\u201d as they stood facing a police line.<\/p>\n Britain has been grappling with how to curb the perilous and politically contentious small-boat crossings, which in recent years have seen tens of thousands of migrants arriving annually on the shores of southeast England.<\/p>\n The issue has been relentlessly seized upon by the hard-right Reform UK party, which has surged in popularity on the back of growing anti-immigration sentiment.<\/p>\n The centre-left Labour government has said the number of boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers across the Channel was the lowest this summer since 2019, in part because of cooperation deals with the French government.<\/p>\n One passenger affected by the disruption told Sky News they were \u201cstuck on a boat in Dunkirk for over an hour and a half\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cStop the boats? Wrong ones!\u201d added the passenger, who was not named.<\/p>\n During summer months, the Port of Dover says it handles more than 10,000 freight vehicles and 15,000 passenger vehicles a day, and is responsible for a third of Britain\u2019s goods trade with the EU.<\/p>\n It is the UK\u2019s biggest international ferry port.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n