Kent Police has admitted ignoring intelligence on Dover disruption

Kent Police has admitted receiving intelligence about a planned disruption in Dover four days before it took place, reports Metro:

A woman has said she warned police about the masked mass protest in Dover days before it happened, despite officers calling it 'spontaneous'.

Kent Police has been criticised for its 'slow response' after hundreds of masked protestors in balaclavas wearing all-black halted traffic at the port on Saturday.

The force defended their handling of the 'spontaneous protest', but Metro has spoken to an anti-racism campaigner who said officers should have been more prepared.

In a statement to Metro, Kent Police admit getting a tip-off late on Friday evening that a protest could take place in the town the following day – but that intelligence was not fully assessed.

Maz Garside, from Portsmouth, claims she told Counter Terror Police about action planned in Dover involving men in balaclavas, led by Tommy Robinson's 'right-hand man' Daniel Thomas, on the Tuesday before the protests.

And Hope Not Hate has posted an account of demonstrators massing in a Kent village the evening before the protest and talking freely about their plans in the pub.

Matthew Scott, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent has issued this statement:

Kent Police has acknowledged that an opportunity was missed that could have enabled the Force to mobilise sooner and bring the disruption to an end more quickly. Matthew Scott, Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: 

"I welcome an independent learning review by the College of Policing. I have asked that this examines how information is triaged by the Force and the communications strategy the Force deployed in response to the event. I look forward to receiving the findings of that review. I will ensure that Chief Constable is held to account for any findings and recommendations that it makes. 

"It is essential that we understand how this happened, and that lessons are leant. 

"This is separate to the response of Officers, Staff and Specials on the ground, who did the best they could, in the circumstances they were presented with, to bring the disruption to an end as soon as they did."