Europe's Far Right Seizes on Violence in 5 Countries to Push Anti-Immigration Agenda
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 21
Europe's Far Right Seizes on Violence in 5 Countries to Push Anti-Immigration Agenda
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 21
Summary
Far-right parties across at least five European countries used last weekend’s protest violence to argue that liberal governments and open-border policies had failed, with elections nearing in Spain, France and Italy.
France’s National Rally, Germany’s AfD, Portugal’s Chega, Spain’s Vox and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang all tied unrest or housing protests to immigration, even where demonstrations were peaceful or, in Germany, largely absent.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, already in power for 4 years, responded differently by widening a law-and-order crackdown through emergency decrees that created a new violent-demonstration offense and tougher penalties for rioters and organizers.
The narrative spread beyond mainstream far-right parties as Éric Zemmour called the unrest an “ethnic war,” while Donald Trump and JD Vance cast France’s riots as proof that migration and multiculturalism were destabilizing Europe.