The Michigan governor who was the target of a foiled rightwing kidnapping plot said on Friday that Donald Trump’s rhetoric “incites more domestic terror”, after the president posted a series of aggressive tweets overnight that sought to shame the victim of the plot.
Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled
Continue reading...Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has slammed Donald Trump for not condemning right-wing militias following the foiled kidnapping plot against Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Speaking from his campaign in Arizona, Biden criticised the president for not watching his words after Trump previously tweeted 'Liberate Michigan' in response to the state's Covid restrictions. 'You saw what the head of the FBI said a couple of days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists,' Biden said. 'Why can't the president just say, stop, stop, stop, stop, and we will pursue you if you don't"
Continue reading...FBI said plot involved contacting members of a militia who ‘talked about murdering tyrants or taking a sitting governor’
Six people have been charged with a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, that involves links to a rightwing militia group, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced.
Another seven people were charged with plotting to target law enforcement and attack the state capitol building. The state attorney general, Dana Nessel, announced additional charges under Michigan’s anti-terrorism law. Seven men, all in custody, are linked to the militia group Wolverine Watchmen.
Continue reading...Clashes between police and demonstrators continued on the streets of Athens on Tuesday after a Greek court ruled that the far-right Golden Dawn party was operating as a criminal organisation, delivering a landmark guilty verdict in a marathon five-year trial. Police had earlier used water cannon and teargas to disperse an anti-fascist rally attended by more than 15,000 people outside court
Continue reading...A crowd of thousands cheered the announcement of a Greek court's ruling on Wednesday that the far-right Golden Dawn party was operating as a criminal organisation. The verdict follows a five-year trial and was met with jubilation by people who had gathered around the heavily guarded court complex in Athens, chanting 'Nazis belong to prison'.
Continue reading...Ex-leader and MPs found guilty after biggest trial of fascists since Nuremberg
A court verdict in Athens with ramifications for the far right across Europe has been met with jubilation in Greece and internationally after judges ruled the neo-fascist Golden Dawn was a criminal organisation in disguise.
Tens of thousands people who had converged near the heavily guarded court complex in Athens in anticipation of the judgment roared in excitement as the news emerged. Many broke into spontaneous applause and punched the air as it became clear that the three-member tribunal had found the far-right group guilty of operating a gang of hit squads bent on eliminating perceived enemies.
Continue reading...Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has called for the US to put politics aside and unite as the country faces 'too many crises'. Speaking at Gettysburg, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the US civil war, Biden said he decided to run for president after the far-right rally and resulting violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. 'It was hate on the march in the open. In America,' he said. 'Hate never goes away. It only hides. And when it's given oxygen, when it's given an opportunity to spread, when it's treated as normal and acceptable behaviour, we've opened a door in this country that we must move quickly to close'
Authorities ignored signs of infiltration by far-right elements, say campaigners
Germany’s first nationwide report into rightwing extremism in the security services has revealed hundreds of incidents across the police and military that contravened the country’s constitution.
Horst Seehofer, the interior minister, sought to downplay the incidence of extremism in the forces, at the same time as insisting that each case was a “disgrace” and that a “no tolerance” policy would be exercised against personnel who broke the rules.
Continue reading...Donald Trump provoked outrage when he refused to condemn white supremacists during the first presidential debate – instead giving a boost to the far-right group the Proud Boys by instructing them to “stand back and stand by”.
But LGBTQ Twitter users have now hit back at the president’s name-check of the hate group by hijacking the hashtag #ProudBoys and filling it with photos and messages of love and pride.
Continue reading...Network run by fake news-publishing father and son spreads word to Trump supporters they should prepare for violence in November
A militia-promoting father and son duo of fake news publishers and a Trump-connected social media consultant are linked to pages which promote the idea of an American civil war with material presented in a way that appears to be an effort to sidestep Facebook’s fact-checking system.
Comments on their Facebook pages and other materials obtained by the Guardian show that some rank and file Donald Trump supporters are enthusiastically receiving the message that they should prepare for violence against their perceived political enemies in November.
Continue reading...Joe Biden warned white supremacist groups including the Proud Boys to 'cease and desist', in Alliance, Ohio, the second stop of his Build Back Better train tour to Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and the Proud Boys during Tuesday night’s election debate, and on Wednesday Trump claimed he had never heard of Proud Boys, after saying on Tuesday they should 'stand back and stand by'.
The Proud Boys have since offered for sale T-shirts with the motif 'standing by'
President ‘made his call to violence crystal clear’, critics say, after he exhorted the far-right Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’
Donald Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacy during Tuesday night’s debate fits into a pattern of extremist rhetoric that has already baselessly stoked fear of voting fraud amid the president’s urging of his supporters to descend on polling stations in November’s election.
Related: Presidential debate reaction: Trump condemned over failure to criticise far-right group – live
Continue reading...Company distances itself from US fascist group as it halts sales of garment in North America
The fashion brand Fred Perry has pulled one of its famous polo shirt designs after it became associated with a far-right organisation.
The company has halted sales of the black and yellow top in the US and Canada, after it was adopted by the neo-fascist organisation the Proud Boys.
Continue reading...Campaigners call for urgent institutional response after attacks and death threats targeting MPs, academics and activists
Over the summer, Mamadou Ba, the head of an anti-racist organisation in Lisbon, received a letter. “Our goal is to kill every foreigner and anti-fascist – and you are among our targets,” it read. A few weeks later, it was followed up with a message telling him to leave Portugal or let his family face the consequences. That message was accompanied by a bullet casing.
Ba’s experience is one of a growing number of racist incidents perpetrated across Portugal that have led the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) to call for “an urgent institutional response”.
Continue reading...Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show
Leaked chat logs show Portland-area pro-Trump activists planning and training for violence, sourcing arms and ammunition and even suggesting political assassinations ahead of a series of contentious rallies in the Oregon city, including one scheduled for this weekend.
The chats on the GroupMe app, shared with the Guardian by the antifascist group Eugene Antifa, show conversations between Oregon members of the Patriots Coalition growing more extreme as they discuss armed confrontations with leftwing Portland activists, and consume a steady diet of online disinformation about protests and wildfires.
Continue reading...Party set to end 27 years of leftist rule and take its second regional presidency in elections
A candidate for the far-right Brothers of Italy looks set to end 27 years of leftwing rule in the eastern Marche region, and take the party’s second regional presidency.
The centre-left is likely to retain its stronghold of Tuscany, however, according to exit polls for key Italian regional elections.
Continue reading...Refugee groups urge ministers to ensure safety of 400 people housed in barracks
The people of Folkestone have become used to the sound of helicopters buzzing over their heads at night, as authorities scour the waters off the south coast for asylum seekers crossing the Channel on small boats.
September has become the busiest month on record for migrant Channel crossings, while more than 6,500 have made the journey this year – more than three times the total in 2019. The sight of new arrivals, some in flimsy dinghies and using spades as oars, has become an almost daily occurrence.
Continue reading...As Liguria prepares for next week’s regional elections, an unlikely candidate has energised the fight against the far right
A procession of about 100 people, most of them young, departs from the church of San Martino di Struppa, up a track into the mountains around Genoa. Above, every shade of green; below, the port and the sea, like an aqueous mirror reflecting the blue sky.
There’s history on these steep slopes, and that is why these people are here: the ancient paths were used by partisans during the war, and when they blew up a bridge, severing German troops from their supply lines, the priest of San Martino, Don Andrea Ricchini, was taken to Auschwitz in reprisal. He survived, and – after a funeral had been held, in absentia – returned to serve the parish for 30 more years.
Continue reading...Brian Murphy claims he was demoted for refusing to accept fabrication of intelligence to match Donald Trump’s rhetoric
Trump loyalists running the Department of Homeland Security manipulated intelligence reports to play down the threat of Russian election interference and white supremacists and exaggerate the threat of antifa and anarchist groups, according to the department’s former top intelligence official.
The official, Brian Murphy, said he was demoted in August from his position running the department’s office of intelligence and analysis because of his refusal to go along with the fabrication of intelligence to match Donald Trump’s rhetoric, and for making formal complaints about the political pressure. He filed a whistleblower reprisal complaint on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Flag-waving extremists and white nationalists block roads in protest over migrant Channel crossings
Just after 1pm, below the white cliffs of Dover, Nigel Marcham offered his take on one of the summer’s most potent symbols. “Take a knee for the brethren of this fucking country,” Marcham screamed into his megaphone.
Around him a ragtag collection of far-right supporters, white nationalists and neo-nazis knelt on the A20 outside Dover’s Eastern Docks. “Thanks for taking a fucking knee in the proper way,” he said, clearly delighted with his perversion of the global peaceful protest symbol adopted by millions following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Continue reading...