Lifeboat crews from the Isle of Wight have been abused online after protesters circulated photographs of them helping 140 people ashore at the Eastney Landing ferry port in Portsmouth.
The RNLI‘s chief executive, Peter Sparkes, said in a statement on Tuesday (8th September 2026) that “some of our volunteers and staff have been the subject of online and, in the worst cases, physical abuse”.
Police faced demonstrators on Sunday (6th September 2026) who blocked roads in Portsmouth in an effort to stop the coaches travelling into the city.
The men, women and children had crossed from Normandy in a large dinghy. They were eventually taken to Kent for processing.
Photographs shared, then the abuse
Protesters posted pictures on social media of the Isle of Wight crew members who had worked on the operation.
Then the online abuse followed.
Mr Sparkes said the charity’s people “represent the very best in our society” and give up their time to keep others safe. He said,
“Yet they and their families are being threatened by those who would hide behind a balaclava or a keyboard.”
He called that behaviour “wholly unacceptable in a civilised society”, and said the charity would “take whatever steps we can, to care for and protect our people and their families”.
Channel work is 1.2 per cent of RNLI launches
Mr Sparkes set out the charity’s figures for last year. The coastguard tasked RNLI lifeboats to launch 9,058 times in 2025, of which 109 went to people in distress in the Channel.
That is 1.2 per cent of the charity’s total rescue work.
Nearly 95 per cent of those who crossed the Channel in small boats last year were picked up by the UK Border Force, according to the statement.
Mr Sparkes said,
“Anyone rescued from a small boat by the RNLI is immediately handed over to the UK’s immigration authorities.
“Illegal immigration is a political issue; the RNLI exists to save lives at sea.”
Rumours about premises dismissed
Mr Sparkes said he had seen “ludicrous rumours that we house asylum seekers on RNLI premises, or that there are RNLI missions to move migrants to secret locations”.
“These rumours are completely baseless and untrue”, he said.
He described the RNLI as “an apolitical organisation” that is “completely independent of government”.
On why crews launch when the coastguard calls, he pointed to the duty on the UK,
“It is a legal and moral obligation that our country has, under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea and SOLAS, Safety of Life at Sea.”
The charity saved 389 lives last year. He said,
“Stand by them, not against them and their families.”
Doxxing raised in the Commons
The digital secretary, Lisa Nandy, said on Tuesday that she was “personally concerned” about doxxing on social media, the sharing of a person’s private information online without their consent.
She was answering Vikki Slade, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, who told the Commons that “some very disturbing posts” had appeared identifying “brave RNLI rescuers”.
Ms Slade asked what more the government could do to take down posts “that put children and adults’ safety at risk through doxxing”.
Ms Nandy replied,
“I have had an initial discussion with some of the tech companies about this.”
She added later,
“It is something that the government is concerned about (and) I’m personally concerned about.”
Council thanks crews and warns on rumours
The Isle of Wight Council put out its own statement that day, in which the leader, Councillor Jonathan Bacon, thanked the RNLI lifeboat crews and asked residents to “avoid sharing unverified claims or rumours online”.
The council said it would make representations to government through the Island’s MPs, having had no notification that the Island was being considered for disembarkation or processing.
