Category Archives: The far right

UK riots live: rioters jailed over Merseyside disorder as police brace for more far-right unrest

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Police said 120 people have been charged so far while 428 arrests have been made during the riots

Chief executive of Conversation Over Borders, a national charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers, is calling for people to send in welcoming notes which will be delivered to asylum seekers staying at initial hotel accommodation, PA Media reports.

Colette Batten-Turner said since putting the call out the charity received 150 messages by the next day, adding: “We are getting more and more messages come in by the second.”

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UK riots live: arrests pass 400 as police prepare for further riots; man in serious condition after suspected hate crime

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More than 400 people arrested in connection with riots and disorder; man hospitalised in Belfast

The UK’s National Union of Students has offered a statement of support to communities affected by far-right rioting and violence, including students from Muslim and migrant backgrounds, following a week of far-right violence across England and in Belfast.

“At NUS, we stand in solidarity with the migrants, racialised and Muslim communities that have faced xenophobic, racist, and Islamophobic violence in the last week,” the NUS statement said.

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Lawyers urge Starmer to ensure safety of advice centres over far-right threat

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Police chiefs announce deployment of extra 2,200 riot officers as list of 60 immigration centres circulated online

Lawyers have called on ministers to address serious concerns about their safety after it emerged far-right groups were planning to target immigration advice centres in the coming days.

The Law Society and Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) said their members were at risk, after a list of 60 immigration centres was circulated on Telegram with a message suggesting they should be the target of protests on Wednesday.

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Police officers injured amid standoff in Plymouth – England riots as it happened

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Devon & Cornwall police report violence against officers and damaged police van as calls grow for recall of parliament

Local people joined council workers to clear up around the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Manvers, near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, on Monday morning.

Police officers stood guard outside the main entrance and at other locations around the building as teams swept up glass from the numerous broken windows at the front of the hotel, PA reported.

That’s not what we’re doing right now. What we’re doing right now is keeping in close contact with MPs.

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German punks launch ‘invasion’ of holiday island favoured by elite

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Leftwingers set up protest camp on Sylt to demonstrate against far right, economic exclusion and climate crisis

Punks from across Germany have set up a summer-long protest camp on the North Sea holiday island of Sylt to demonstrate against economic exclusion, environmental degradation and the presence of the far right in one of the country’s most exclusive areas.

For the third consecutive year, the young leftwingers with mohawks, torn T-shirts and facial piercings began descending on Sylt at the weekend, mainly by train, to disrupt the seasonal repose of the elites.

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Germany bans ‘rightwing extremist’ Compact magazine

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AfD-supporting publication has fed racist and far-right nationalist conspiracy theories

The German government has banned the rightwing extremist magazine Compact, accusing it of whipping up “unspeakable” hatred of Jews, Muslims and foreigners while undermining the country’s constitutional democracy.

In what she called a “hard blow” against the far right, the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, ordered dawn raids in four German states at properties linked to the publication, which is ideologically close to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party and promotes its drive for power.

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Rights groups decry lack of Roma MEPs amid far-right gains

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Six million Roma people living across the EU will have no direct voice as new parliament sits, activists say

From influencers to activists, hailing from Spain to Slovakia, the more than 700 newly elected members of the European parliament will gather on Tuesday for their inaugural session. Their ranks, however, will not include any MEPs who identify as Roma, according to Roma rights organisations, who describe it as a tremendous blow to Europe’s largest ethnic minority.

“We’re facing an unprecedented situation,” said Ismael Cortés, an associate professor at the Unesco Institute of Philosophy for Peace. “Out of 720 seats in the European parliament, zero are going to be dedicated to Roma people.”

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German city bans ‘silent fox’ gesture in schools over similarity to far-right sign

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Bremen says symbol, used to call for silence in class, ‘in danger of being mistaken’ for Turkish extremist ‘wolf salute’

A city in northern Germany has become the first to issue an all-out ban on the use of a hand gesture used to encourage silence in the classroom because of its close resemblance to a far-right Turkish gesture.

The “silent fox” gesture – where the hand is posed to resemble an animal with upright ears (the little and forefinger) and a closed mouth (the middle fingers pressed against the thumb) – has long been seen as a useful teaching tool by educators in Germany and elsewhere. It signals to children that they should stop talking and listen to their teacher.

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Spain’s far-right Vox quits key regional governments over migration row

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Spanish PM hails a great day for Spain after party pulls out of coalitions with conservative People’s party

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has hailed a great day for the country after the far-right Vox party relinquished its grip on power by abandoning its coalition governments with the conservative People’s party (PP) in five key regions after disagreements over migration policy.

Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, announced the withdrawal on Thursday night, after days of arguments with the PP over its decision to support the central government’s plans to bring about 400 unaccompanied minors from the Canary Islands and redistribute them around the mainland.

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Risk of far right gaining power has not gone away, warns French Green leader

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Marine Tondelier, whose party forms part of the election-winning New Popular Front, says politics must change to regain voters’ trust

The French Green leader, Marine Tondelier, has said the risk of the far right rising to power in France has not disappeared after the snap election, and politics must urgently change to regain voters’ trust.

“It was a warning,” Tondelier said of this month’s election, where a spectacular rush of tactical voting in the final round held back Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally. The RN’s first-round surge had brought it the closest it had ever been to a parliament majority and entering government.

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‘It’s going to be a mess’: uncertainty tempers election relief in Lyon

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Surprise result ‘restores hope’ but politicians urged to heed warning after far-right National Rally falls short

Against the backdrop of Lyon’s emblematic Bartholdi fountain, much of which was sculpted by the artist behind New York’s Statue of Liberty, the same word was on seemingly everyone’s lips on Monday after the French election result: soulagement, or relief.

“It’s great that the far right didn’t win,” said Stéphane, 47. But he, like everyone else the Guardian spoke to, was swift to add a caveat given the political uncertainty that now looms over the nation. “It’s going to be a mess. They’re not going to agree on a lot of things.”

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Le Pen and Orbán join forces in European parliament far-right alliance

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The group, styled Patriots for Europe, becomes the third-largest force and largest-ever far-right bloc assembly

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has joined forces with the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in a new far-right alliance in the European parliament.

The group, styled Patriots for Europe, becomes the third-largest force in the European parliament and the largest-ever far-right bloc in the history of the assembly.

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‘Our backs are against the wall’: French grassroots mobilise against far right

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Activist groups have sprung up across the country in efforts to defeat National Rally in second round of elections

The truck rumbled through the streets of Montpellier, eliciting insults and bursts of applause as it made its way through the French city. As it rolled past onlookers, the giant screens on its sides scrolled through various pieces of legislation that the far-right National Rally (RN) had voted against, from measures to combat domestic and sexual violence to providing meals and school supplies for children in need.

It was one of dozens of grassroots efforts that have sprung up in recent weeks as France hurtles towards the second round of snap parliamentary elections that could see Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant party form a government in a historic first.

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Peter Navarro defends himself in new book while still in prison

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The New Maga Deal full of errors and omissions from former Trump adviser convicted of contempt of Congress

In a book due to be published a day before his release from prison this month, the former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro praises Donald Trump’s Maga movement – and claims to list errors and omissions that led to his four-month sentence for criminal contempt of Congress, for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee.

But Navarro makes striking errors and omissions of his own, including jarringly misidentifying Ashli Babbitt – the Trump supporter shot dead at the US Capitol who became a martyr to many on the far right – as a US marine corps veteran.

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French artists, DJs and musicians unite to fight threat of far-right government

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Front Électronique acts as ‘world of the night’ to combat rise of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally

More than 1,200 artists, DJs and promoters from the French music industry have come together in a bid to galvanise “the world of the night” into political action and to protest at the possibility of the first far-right French government since the second world war.

Members of the Front Électronique (FE) have organised live debates on video streaming service Twitch and free concerts, and released a fund-raising album Siamo Tutti Antifascisti Vol.1 (We are all Anti-Fascists) featuring 38 artists. The compilation is described as a “call to arms”.

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French Jewish people conflicted over voting choices amid antisemitism fears

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Many say they feel stuck in middle between far-right National Rally and hard-left France Unbowed

As France faces a high-stakes second round of elections on Sunday, French Jewish people say they are grappling with tough choices and feel caught between extremes amid concerns about rising antisemitism.

As part of her longstanding efforts to detoxify the image of the far-right National Rally (RN) – currently leading in opinion polls – Marine Le Pen, to the incredulity of many, has sought to present herself as a friend of Jewish people and Israel.

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Police, poverty and populism: how Perpignan became a laboratory for the far right

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French city’s election of a National Rally mayor has been a study in the party’s attempts to normalise itself in local politics

As Patrice Burel scooped coffee at his roastery in Perpignan, he lamented the steady closure of other shops on this narrow city centre street. “They gradually disappeared like sugar dissolving in a cup of tea,” he said, blaming crime, traffic jams and competition from out-of-town shopping centres. “I long argued for the pedestrianisation of this street.”

Then in 2020 came political change. Perpignan, with a population of 121,000 and close to the Spanish border, became the biggest city to be run by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in 20 years. The historic city at the foot of the Pyrenees, which for decades has had some of the starkest inequality in France, is now a municipal laboratory for the far right. The new mayor, Louis Aliot, a lawyer who was formerly Le Pen’s romantic partner and is a party vice-president, picked up the pedestrianisation plan for Burel’s street, which began in 2022.

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Germany summons Turkish ambassador over ‘wolf’ goal celebration

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Diplomat urged to explain gesture by Turkey footballer Merih Demiral and take measures to prevent a repeat

Turkey’s ambassador to Germany has been summoned to the foreign ministry in Berlin over the rightwing extremist “wolf salute” displayed by the Turkish footballer Merih Demiral, as his goal celebration at the European Championship became the subject of diplomatic exchange.

Ahmet Başar Şen was urged to explain the gesture and take measures to prevent its further use, a ministry spokesperson said, the day after Germany’s ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara as Turkey’s government accused Berlin of “xenophobia” over its criticism of the symbol associated with the Grey Wolves group.

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France to deploy 30,000 police after election runoff amid fears of violence

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Move comes after attacks on government spokesperson and RN candidate in buildup to Sunday’s poll

About 30,000 police will be deployed across France on Sunday night amid fears of violence after the final results of a snap election in which the far right hopes to gain a majority in parliament.

Gérald Darmanin, the interior minister, said 5,000 police would be on duty in Paris and its surrounding areas to “ensure that the radical right and radical left do not take advantage of the situation to cause mayhem”.

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Germany’s first black African-born MP to stand down after racist abuse

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Karamba Diaby’s announcement he wants to spend time with family comes after bullet and arson attacks on his office

The first black African-born MP to enter the German parliament has announced he will not be standing in next year’s federal election, weeks after he revealed the hate mail, including racist slurs and death threats, he and his staff had received.

Karamba Diaby, 62, who entered the Bundestag in 2013 in a moment hailed as historic by equality campaigners, said he wanted to spend more time with his family and to make room for younger politicians.

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