ANTI-RACIST campaigners are preparing to muster in Dover tomorrow in solidarity with refugees against far-right thugs who are set to descend on the port town. 

Fascist groups said they intended to “take over” Dover tomorrow by blocking the port with a motorcade in protest against refugees crossing the Channel. 

Campaign group Hope not Hate warned yesterday that the far-right demonstration could prompt violence with a number of extremist groups and individuals expected to show up. 

Lead researcher Joe Mulhall said fears earlier in the week had lessened however due to a number of groups pulling out, citing poor organisation. 

“A few days ago we were concerned that they might all turn out but I think the latest intelligence we’ve been getting is we are slightly less concerned in terms of numbers because it’s been badly organised, a lot of people don’t know who’s organising it,” he said. 

“Some more hard-line factions have been told they are not welcome and should not come.” 

Although it’s unclear who has organised the demonstration, Mr Mulhall said a number of groups including neonazi hooligans Pie and Mash and fascists Patriotic Alternative and British Street Commanders could attend, as well as members of Britain First. 

Alarmingly groups such as the Northwest Infidels, many of whose members were arrested the last time far-right groups descended on Dover in 2016, have resurfaced and expressed their intention of going. 

Anti-racists are staging their own protest in solidarity with refugees in Dover’s Market Square. 

The event, organised by Kent Anti-Racism Network (KARN), is being held following the discovery of the body of drowned Sudanese refugee Abdulfatah Hamdallah washed up in Calais. 

Mr Hamdallah and his friend were trying to cross the English Channel when their small rubber dinghy sank.

Kent anti-racists expressed dismay at the return of fascists on their doorsteps.

Deal councillor Joe Burman, a campaigner with KARN, told the Star: “From our point of view we are just dismayed that fascist flags will be flying over the white cliffs of Dover. 

“They intend to play Vera Lyn, a signifier of our battle against fascism in World War II which they’ve co opted for their own aims to spread hate.

“And most veterans that served in world war two would be spitting in their graves to think of Nazi flags over the white cliffs of Dover. I think it’s a disgrace.

“The important thing is we all stand up against them, don’t let them intimidate us.”

Veterans for peace have also lent their support for the anti-racist protest. 

Their presence today will counter the narrative spewed by far-right groups that the government is leaving veterans on the street while providing refugees with hotel accommodation. 

This has spurred a number of recent attacks on refugee hotels by Britain First including in Coventry last weekend. 

Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana told the Star: “The far-right mobilisations against asylum-seekers — from protests in Dover to targeting hotels in Coventry — are utterly appalling.

“The fascist far-right has no place in society and all anti-racists must speak-up in unequivocal solidarity with asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants.

“It’s no coincidence that Conservative MPs and right-wing newspapers are whipping-up fear about a ‘migrant crisis’ at the same time as we’re entering the worst recession on record and we have witnessed the highest coronavirus excess death toll in Europe.”

Ms Sultana said they were trying to distract attention from their failures and scapegoat vulnerable people.

“The real crisis is in housing, public services, and in an economy rigged in the interests of the super-rich,” she warned.

“Migrants aren’t to blame for this. The Conservative government, and their billionaire backers, are to blame.”