A controversial “straight pride” parade in Boston on Saturday drew more than 1,000 counter-protesters and a few hundred supporters.
The rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was “grand marshal” of the event, for which a group calling itself Super Happy Fun America (SHFA) acquired a permit in June.
Continue reading...As we mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the second world war, with liberal democracies again under siege, Britain should be leading the fight against extremism
Eighty years ago, the start of the second world war saw Nazi Germany invading Poland. Six years later, up to 85 million people were dead. I’m in Poland this weekend to commemorate the start of the bloodiest war in human history.
An entire generation of brave men and women around the globe sacrificed everything to defeat the singular evil of Nazism and fascism.
Continue reading...Andreas Kalbitz is vying to become rightwing German party’s first state premier
A German olitician vying to become the first state premier for the rightwing populist Alternative für Deutschland in elections this Sunday took part in a neo-Nazi rally in Athens in 2007, documents leaked to the media show.
Andreas Kalbitz, 46, is the AfD’s lead candidate for Brandenburg, where polls suggest the party is competing with the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD) in the race to become the state’s strongest political force.
Continue reading...Interior minister calls for ‘day of mobilisation’ in protest at moves to sideline League
Matteo Salvini has called on his supporters to descend on Rome as Italy moves towards ousting his far-right League from power after his attempt to collapse the Italian government and force snap elections.
Salvini earmarked 19 October for a “peaceful day of Italian pride” against a potential government made up of his former ally, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and the centre-left Democratic party (PD).
Continue reading...Asylum seeker Alaa Sheikhi guilty of manslaughter of Daniel Hillig in Chemnitz
A Syrian asylum seeker accused of a killing that sparked a week of far-right street violence in the eastern German city of Chemnitz in 2018 has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Alaa Sheikhi, 24, was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison by the Chemnitz higher regional court on Thursday.
Continue reading...Richard Braine accused of stoking tensions after also saying there are no ‘moderate Muslims’
Richard Braine, the new Ukip leader, has been accused of whipping up religious tensions and anti-Muslim prejudice after leaked emails showed he argued that people should no more want Muslims to settle in their country than Nazis.
Braine, who won the leadership after a campaign in which he expressed anti-Islam views, also suggested that non-Muslims needed to help Muslims to “cast out their demon” and argued there was no such thing as “moderate Muslims”.
Continue reading...Ex-PM Matteo Renzi’s plan may stave off elections that could lead to fully far-right government
The leader of Italy’s centre-left Democratic party (PD) has warmed to a potential alliance with its long-time rival, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), in an attempt to stave off snap elections that threaten to create western Europe’s first fully far-right government since the second world war.
Nicola Zingaretti, who was elected PD party leader in March, relented to the prospect of forming a government with M5S on condition it lasts until the end of the legislature in 2023. “A possible new government must be a turning point, lasting the term, or it is better to go to the polls,” he said after a meeting with PD members on Wednesday morning.
Continue reading...Giuseppe Conte tells Italian Senate that far-right leader has triggered political crisis to serve his own interests
Giuseppe Conte has resigned as Italy’s prime minister after blasting Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right League, as an “opportunist” for triggering a government crisis that could have “serious consequences” for Italy.
Conte said he would formally resign his mandate to the president, Sergio Mattarella, after the close of the debate in the Senate on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The heads of counter-terrorism policing and MI5 have warned far-right criminality is growing
In his paper on how the far right became part of the mainstream, the academic Joe Mulhall said far-right demonstrations had grown to sizes not seen since the 1930s.
The “Free Tommy [Robinson]” event in August, the “Day of freedom” march in May and the “Brexit betrayal” demonstration in December all attracted large numbers of people.
Continue reading...Centre-right MPs say the policy must be part of any coalition agreement after September’s elections
Austria’s centre-right People’s party has said it will insist on the banning of the far-right Identitarian Movement as a condition of any coalition after parliamentary elections next month.
Such a ban “must be in the next coalition agreement,” the People’s party (OeVP) parliamentary group leader August Woeginger said in a statement released to Austrian media.
Continue reading...Oregon city saw its largest far-right demonstration of the Trump era on Saturday, as 500 rightwingers travelled from around the country to march back and forth across the city’s bridges, and briefly occupy a patch of its waterfront. City authorities succeeded in preventing head-on confrontations between the demonstration and a much larger counter-protest. Police said they made 13 arrests, and seized weapons throughout the day
Continue reading...Guardian columnist claims attack was ‘premeditated assault’
The Guardian columnist and activist Owen Jones has been physically assaulted in London while celebrating his 35th birthday with friends.
In an attack he called “a blatant premeditated assault”, Jones said he was kicked, punched and thrown to the ground by a group of men in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Continue reading...His energetic stint at the helm of Italy’s government was brought to a juddering halt when, in 2016, he was effectively sacked by voters after suffering an embarrassing defeat in a constitutional referendum. Now Matteo Renzi is back, casting himself as the man to save Italy from the potential grip of a far-right government led by the League’s Matteo Salvini and calling on all “responsible politicians” to back him to thwart the extremist threat. He is re-entering the fray, he insists, for the sake of the country’s future – and not to reignite his own career.
“For my personal rating and consensus it would be better to stay silent,” Renzi told the Observer in an exclusive interview last week. “But Salvini must be stopped, and it’s important to give a strong message – there is an alternative.”
Continue reading...Oregon city sees sporadic violence and a dozen arrests as Donald Trump and Proud Boys chairman denounce anti-fascists
Portland saw its largest far-right demonstration of the Trump era on Saturday, as 500 rightwingers traveled from around the country to march back and forth across the city’s bridges, and briefly occupy a patch of its waterfront.
By making extensive accommodations for the unpermitted rightwing protest, including close police escorts, concrete barriers, and reopening a bridge to allow them to leave the downtown area, Portland authorities succeeded in preventing head-on confrontations between it and a much larger counter-protest.
Continue reading...Police are fearful of an outbreak of violence at the ‘End Domestic Terrorism’ rally, which is targeted at Portland’s antifascist groups
Portland is preparing for a large far-right rally on Saturday that may be the largest in a series of demonstrations that have descended on the city in the Trump era.
Police in the Oregon city are fearful of an outbreak of violence at the “End Domestic Terrorism” rally, which is targeted at Portland’s antifascist groups, who in recent years have clashed with rightwing activists in running street battles.
Continue reading...Matteo Salvini reiterates call for snap vote as his party plans motion to dismantle coalition
Italy appears set for fresh elections that could push the country further toward the far right.
Matteo Salvini, the deputy prime minister, reiterated his calls for a snap vote on Friday, adding that any attempt to block his wishes and install a new ruling coalition would be unacceptable. His League party said it would present a no-confidence motion in the senate in its push to dismantle the tempestuous coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
Continue reading...Speaking to reporters at the White House, Donald Trump said he was 'concerned about the rise of any group of hate' and referred to white supremacists and anti-fascist activists. The US president was leaving to travel to Dayton and El Paso to meet with first responders, families and victims of the recent shootings when he said: 'Whether it’s any group or kind of hate ... I am concerned about it and I’ll do something about it'
Continue reading...Far-right leader takes unusual step in effort to drum up support in south of country
Matteo Salvini is taking his perennial campaign to Italy’s beaches as the far-right leader seeks to whip up more support before widely-anticipated new elections.
The Italian parliament officially begins its summer break at the end of the week, but Salvini, deputy prime minister and interior minister, is finishing on Wednesday to begin what the Italian media are calling his “beach tour”.
Continue reading...I was born in 1931 in the small German town of Meiningen, famous for its theatre, much like Stratford-upon-Avon. Its mainly middle-class citizens were deeply disillusioned, tired of the infighting of the political parties. Germany seemed to be in a state of social and moral disintegration, crying out for healing and reconciliation. People were drawn to a charismatic, unconventional power-hungry leader who read their minds and promised what they wanted to hear. I know history never quite repeats itself, but the analogies are frightening.
The single issue was the exceptionalism (Opinion, 29 July), the superiority of the German race. The good, mainly churchgoing citizens easily voted his Brown Shirts onto the regional council (cpcf the Brexit party). Two years later they voted nationally in sufficient numbers to enable Hitler to seize total power. It was all perfectly legal, too late to effectively protest. Dissent was now treason (think the Daily Mail). My father’s parents were Jews. Outcasts now (think our non-Brits), a few years later we had no choice but to flee and my grandmother to take poison. I pray for our PM and hope that I am needlessly crying wolf.
Canon Dr Paul Oestreicher
Brighton
German MPs condemn comments on Eritrean-born man accused of pushing boy in front of train
Germany’s interior minister has called for restraint after far-right politicians sought to exploit for political gain the death of an eight-year-old boy who was pushed in front of a train at Frankfurt station this week.
An Eritrean-born man who lives in Switzerland is accused of pushing the boy and his mother onto the tracks. The mother was able to roll to safety under the platform seconds before a high-speed train hit her son, killing him instantly.
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