Category Archives: The far right

Biden’s attorney general puts domestic terror and civil rights at top of agenda

Posted on by

Analysis: Merrick Garland has made a clean break with Bill Barr, making domestic terrorism his ‘top priority’ winning won praise for his moves on civil and voting rights

The new attorney general, Merrick Garland, has signaled an ambitious agenda to fight domestic terrorism in America including white supremacists and hate crimes, while bolstering civil rights and voting rights, critical areas that got short shrift from the Trump administration, say ex-federal prosecutors and members of Congress.

The shift at the Department of Justice represents one of the most stark turnarounds under Joe Biden from the Trump era. Under the previous attorney general, Bill Barr, the justice department was often seen as at Trump’s beck and call, the former president accused of treating it as virtually his own legal service.

Continue reading...

Proud Boys leader received Covid-19 stimulus loans worth $15,500

Posted on by

Enrique Tarrio received two paycheck protection program loans intended for small businesses, for ‘security systems services’

Government records show that Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the far-right Proud Boys group, received two federal government-backed paycheck protection program (PPP) loans worth a total of $15,500, the Guardian can reveal.

Tarrio, based in Miami, Florida, was approved for an initial loan of $7,750 on 30 March, and a succeeding loan for the same amount on 16 April. The loans were issued to Henry Tarrio, an anglicized form of his name which he has used on other occasions.

Continue reading...

Australian neo-Nazi Tom Sewell charged by counter-terrorism police

Posted on by

Police say the arrests of Sewell and another man in Melbourne followed an investigation into an alleged armed robbery

Australian neo-Nazi Tom Sewell has been charged by police in Victoria over an alleged armed robbery earlier this month.

On Friday, counter-terrorism police arrested two men – 28-year-old Sewell and another 22-year-old – and executed search warrants in Eildon Parade in the Melbourne suburb of Rowville.

Continue reading...

Explosives and weaponry found at US far-right protests, documents reveal

Posted on by

Law enforcement discovers wide range of incendiary devices while NYPD document defines rightwing groups as extremists

Federal government documents obtained by the Guardian show a wide range of explosives, flamethrowers and incendiary devices found by law enforcement agencies outside political conventions, public buildings and protests during 2020 and 2021.

The extent of the weaponry – including timed devices deposited as part of a suspected pro-Trump bomb plot –reveals the perils and potential violence circulating through American politics in the grip of unrest linked to pandemic shutdowns, anti-racism protests and rightwing activism and insurrection that culminated in the attack on the Capitol in Washington.

Continue reading...

German society ‘brutalised’ as far-right crimes hit record levels

Posted on by

Police recorded almost 24,000 far-right crimes last year – the highest level since records began

Germany’s interior minister has said that a dramatic rise in rightwing extremist crime demonstrates a “brutalisation” of society and poses the biggest threat to the country’s stability.

Horst Seehofer said politically motivated crime in general was a growing problem, pledging more police surveillance of protest groups as a result.

Continue reading...

Proud Boys Canada dissolves itself, months after designation as terrorist entity

Posted on by

Far-right group was deemed a terrorist entity in Canada in February with authorities describing group as ‘serious and growing’ threat

Proud Boys Canada, a far-right group that Ottawa named as a terrorist entity earlier this year, has dissolved itself, saying it has done nothing wrong, according to a statement by the organisation.

In February, Canada said the group posed an active security threat and played a “pivotal role” in the deadly attack on the US Capitol in January by pro-Trump rioters. US authorities have charged several members of the Proud Boys in connection with the 6 January assault.

Continue reading...

Golden Dawn MEP Ioannis Lagos arrested in Brussels

Posted on by

Former leader of neo-Nazi party convicted in absentia in 2020 faces extradition to Athens

When the authorities caught up with Ioannis Lagos, they caught up with him fast. The MEP, once a feared leader of Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, has been arrested hours after he was stripped of his immunity as an elected member of the European parliament and told he would be extradited to Athens.

Seized in his Brussels home on Tuesday, the convicted lawmaker had been sentenced to 13 years after a Greek court determined at the end of a landmark trial in 2020 that Golden Dawn was a criminal organisation masquerading as a political party.

Continue reading...

Met dismisses police officer who belonged to banned neo-Nazi terror group

Posted on by

Hearing finds Ben Hannam’s actions ‘harmed public confidence in, and the reputation of’ force

A man who became the first British police officer convicted of belonging to a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation has been dismissed from the Metropolitan police without notice.

Ben Hannam was found guilty on 1 April of membership of the banned rightwing extremist group National Action (NA) following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Continue reading...

Apple and Parler agreement could restore rightwing platform to App Store

Posted on by

App was barred over ties to US Capitol attack but companies have discussed content moderation, Apple says

Apple said it had reached an agreement with Parler, the rightwing social media app, that could lead to its reinstatement in the company’s app store. Apple kicked out Parler in January over ties to the deadly 6 January siege on the US Capitol.

In a letter to two Republican lawmakers in Congress, Apple said it has been in “substantial conversations” with Parler over how the company plans to moderate content on its network. Before its removal from the App Store, Parler was a hotbed of hate speech, Nazi imagery, calls for violence (including violence against specific people) and conspiracy theories.

Continue reading...

Judge orders two Proud Boys leaders held in custody over Capitol attack

Posted on by

Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs charged with conspiring to stop 2020 election certification and leading Proud Boys to Capitol

A federal judge has ordered two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group to be detained in jail pending trial for their involvement in the 6 January attack on the Capitol in Washington DC.

Both were indicted in one of many Proud Boys conspiracy cases to stem from the investigation into the assault on the building that followed a pro-Donald Trump rally.

Continue reading...

Could Marine Le Pen finally triumph with her third tilt at French presidency?

Posted on by

Next year’s Élysée race looks like a battle between a fading Emmanuel Macron and the far-right leader. And some believe she might win this time

In Paris’s symbolic Place de la République, under the watchful gaze of France’s allegorical figurehead Marianne, the skateboarders are not in the mood to discuss politics.

For the young here, as everywhere, life has been paused during a pandemic that has halted studies, jobs, socialising and parties. What they want is their lives back, not to talk about an election.

Continue reading...

Far-right Oath Keepers member is first suspect to plead guilty in US Capitol riot

Posted on by

Jon Ryan Schaffer gave a guilty plea in hopes of getting a lighter sentence and will be considered for a witness security program

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and heavy metal guitarist has become the first defendant to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the insurrection at the US Capitol.

Jon Ryan Schaffer, the frontman of the band Iced Earth, has agreed on Friday to cooperate with investigators in hopes of getting a lighter sentence, and the Justice Department will consider putting Schaffer in the federal witness security program, a US district judge said.

Continue reading...

Denmark strips Syrian refugees of residency permits and says it is safe to go home

Posted on by

Government denies renewal of temporary residency status from about 189 Syrians

Denmark has become the first European nation to revoke the residency permits of Syrian refugees, insisting that some parts of the war-torn country are safe to return to.

At least 189 Syrians have had applications for renewal of temporary residency status denied since last summer, a move the Danish authorities said was justified because of a report that found the security situation in some parts of Syria had “improved significantly”.

Continue reading...

Proud Boys and other far-right groups raise millions via Christian funding site

Posted on by

Revealed: groups banned from other sites fundraising on GiveSendGo as data breach identifies high-dollar donors

A data breach from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has revealed that millions of dollars have been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms.

Related: How the far-right group ‘Oath Enforcers’ plans to harass political enemies

Continue reading...

Warning that police grasp of far-right threat is decade out of date

Posted on by

Author says Ben Hannam’s conviction suggests more extremists are serving and says scrutiny ‘isn’t fit for purpose’

The police’s understanding of the far-right extremist threat in the UK is a decade behind the curve because it is based primarily on an understanding of yesterday’s organisations, according to a leading expert.

The warning from Matthew Collins, the author of a book on National Action, came after a 22-year-old became the first serving British police officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence, after he was found guilty of belonging to the banned neo-Nazi group on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Capitol insurrection charges highlight white supremacists in US military

Posted on by

Analysis: About one in five of those charged are current or former members of the armed forces and the Pentagon has warned that white nationalism is a threat within its ranks

If the moustache, trimmed narrowly in the style of Adolf Hitler, don’t give it away, then the antisemitic YouTube rants, the testimony of 34 colleagues and the neo-Nazi reading material certainly do.

Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a US army reservist, is – according to court documents – an “avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer”.

Continue reading...

Uncertainty hangs over Israel PM’s bid to break political impasse

Posted on by

Hardline former allies hold key in new effort by Benjamin Netanyahu to end the country’s two-year stalemate

Israel is due to hold its fourth round of elections on Tuesday, although the result could simply extend a two-year-long political stalemate and possibly lead to a dreaded fifth vote.

Multiple failed attempts to form stable governments after largely inconclusive previous elections have left the country in a protracted crisis. Once the results come in on Wednesday morning, Israel is expected to enter days or weeks of intense political negotiations.

Continue reading...

Unmasked: man behind cult set to replace QAnon

Posted on by

The creator of the rapidly growing ‘Sabmyk Network’ is said to be a Berlin art dealer with a record of media manipulation

The mysterious individual behind a new and rapidly growing online disinformation network targeting followers of QAnon, the far-right cult, can be revealed as a Berlin-based artist with a history of social media manipulation, a prominent anti-racism group claims.

Since Donald Trump left the White House, QAnon’s vast online community has been in a state of flux as it comes to terms with the reality that its conspiracy theories – such as the former US president being destined to defeat a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles – amount to nothing.

Continue reading...

Four Proud Boys leaders charged over alleged roles in US Capitol attack

Posted on by

Four men described as leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group have been charged in the US Capitol riot, as an indictment ordered unsealed on Friday presents fresh evidence of how federal officials believe members planned and carried out a coordinated attack to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Related: The decline of Proud Boys: what does the future hold for far-right group?

Continue reading...

Small number of Facebook users responsible for most Covid vaccine skepticism – report

Posted on by

Washington Post reported on the study which confirmed what researchers have long argued about: the echo chamber effect

A small subset of Facebook users is reportedly responsible for the majority of content expressing or encouraging skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines, according to early results from an internal Facebook study.

The study, first reported by the Washington Post, confirms what researchers have long argued about how the echo chamber effect can amplify certain beliefs within social media communities. It also shows how speech that falls short of outright misinformation about vaccines, which is banned on Facebook, can still contribute to vaccine hesitancy.

Continue reading...