Controversial '˜yellow vest' protest planned for Portsmouth

Members of the yellow vest movement will be staging their first demonstration in the city on Saturday and are asking people to join them.

However, the exact time, location and number of people involved in the rally is not being publicly revealed ahead of the event, organisers told The News.

It is the latest in a string of protests that have swept across the country staged by various branches of the group, which supports Brexit but are angered at how the process has been handled.

On Facebook, the organisers of the Portsmouth event wrote: '˜The yellow vests are a people's movement, [with] no political involvement, no donations or funding and no leader.

'˜We are ordinary people, ordinary people working two jobs and still using food banks. We stand against all injustices and there are hundreds.'

The group lists a number of issues it is worried about, ranging from Brexit, homeless veterans, child abuse, '˜kangaroo courts', '˜lying media' and '˜greedy bankers'.

The organisation is modelled on France's much larger '˜gilet jaunes' movement, which in recent weeks has seen hundreds of thousands of protesters staging rowdy demonstrations across the county, including in its capital, Paris.

Some members from Britain's own version of the group have come under fire for tactics used to convey its own political message.

In London, politicians have condemned the actions of some protesters after they harassed and verbally abused MP Anna Soubry outside parliament, which has prompted police to take action.

The London-based organisation, predominantly made right-wing men, has also targeted a number of high-profile journalists in their taunts, including Sky News's Kay Burley, the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg and Sky presenter Faisal Islam.

Yesterday, Mrs Burley raised fears of another Jo Cox-style attack as broadcasters kept their stars away from Westminster after Mrs Soubry was mobbed and called a Nazi.

The presenter told The Sun she wasn't allowed to walk back to the studio without protection officers.