Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 1 – 14 April 2026)

Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 1 – 14 April 2026)

April 15 2026 News

Written by: IRR News Team


ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY

31 March: A statutory inquiry into group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales (dubbed the ‘Grooming Gangs inquiry’) announces its terms of reference, including to ‘directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response’. (Herald, 31 March 2026)

31 March: Liz Truss promises to save ‘woke’ Britain from ‘terminal decline’ as it emerges that she will host the US Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in London in July. Reform UK announces it will be ‘steering well clear’ of the event. (Guardian, 31 March 2026)

31 March: In a leaked letter, a senior party figure accuses the Greens of ‘structural, documented and sustained’ racism in relation to internal governance and what is described as a ‘coordinated attempt’ to block a vote at national conference on race and Palestine’. (Voice, 1 April 2026; Black Current, 31 March 2026) 

1 April: Reform’s housing spokesperson, in an interview with Inside Housing claiming that post-Grenfell safety regulations have gone too far, says that while the 2017 Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people, was tragic, ‘everyone dies in the end’ and ‘fires happen’. (The I paper, 1 April 2026) 

2 April: Reform UK secures its first seat on Luton council, narrowly defeating the Lib Dems in Wigmore ward. (BBC News, 3 April 2026)

4 April: In France, thousands gather at the Saint-Denis town hall in support of newly-elected mayor Bally Bagayoko (La France Insoumise), who has been subjected to racist disinformation and insults in the media since his electoral victory in March. The Paris prosecutor investigates whether comments made by a guest on CNews television channel constitute public insults of a racist nature. (Le Monde, 4 April 2026; Le Monde, 5 April 2026)

7 April: Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf tells the Daily Telegraph that the ‘UK is not an ATM for ethnic grievances of the past’ and that under a Reform government no visas would be issued to people from any country that continues to demand compensation from the UK for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. (Guardian, 7 April 2026)

7 April: In the run-up to the Hungarian general election, and in a break from convention, US Vice President JD Vance travels to Budapest to campaign for the far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán, whose party is trailing in the polls. (Deutsche Welle, 7 April 2026)

8 April: An investigation by Byline Times into Reform UK’s new head of policy, Dr James Orr, finds that the Cambridge divinity professor has links with Palantir co-founder and Trump backer Peter Thiel as well as GB News owner and political donor Sir Paul Marshall. (Byline Times, 8 April 2026)

12 April: Viktor Orbán’s far-right Fidesz party suffers a landslide defeat in the Hungarian general election, while the far-right Mi Hazánk (Homeland) party wins six seats. (Guardian, 13 April 2026) 

12 April: Accused of fielding ‘crackpots’ by Labour party chair Anna Turley, the Green party promises to investigate candidates whose old social media posts have been dug up ahead of May’s local elections, and which express support for Palestinian resistance and call deputy PM David Lammy a ‘coconut’. (Sunday Times, 12 April 2026)

13 April: Home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s claim that £10 billion will be saved in welfare benefits by doubling migrants’ qualifying period for settlement is highly misleading, according to analysis of figures obtained from the Migration Advisory Committee, with likely savings of only £600m, 6 per cent of the claimed figure. (Guardian, 13 April 2026)

13 April: The official inquiry into the murder by Axel Rudakubana of three young girls in Southport and the stabbing of 10 others criticises the teenager’s ‘irresponsible’ parents and recommends replacing the failed multi-agency model for troubled young people with a new dedicated agency or structure to oversee complex offenders. (Guardian, 13 April 2026)

13 April: The Conservative party suspends its candidate for North Harrow after a media investigation uncovers a series of racist tweets, including demands for British MPs to ‘go back to Pakistan’. (Byline Times, 13 April 2026)

14 April: Reform UK activist Adam Mitula, suspended from the party over allegedly posting highly offensive racist and antisemitic comments, is found to be acting as election agent for three Reform candidates in the 7 May local elections. (Guardian, 14 April 2026)

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

30 March: Oxfordshire County Council bans Raise the Colours from erecting flags in the county, which it argues is an act of intimidation and division causing residents to feel ‘distressed, unwelcome and unsafe’. (Guardian, 2 April 2026)

31 March: Ryan Bridge, co-founder of Raise the Colours, is arrested on suspicion of religiously and racially aggravated harassment causing alarm and distress. He is released on bail but banned from entering Oxfordshire, where members have put up hundreds of flags. (Guardian, 2 April 2026)

2 April: Far-right street activity across Europe is found to be growing bolder and more violent, with groups targeting migrants and people of colour through harassment, ‘civilian border patrols,’ and physical attacks in countries including Hungary, Poland, France, Sweden and Iceland. Incidents include violent evictions of Romani people carried out by Hungarian nationalist group Bűnvadászok (‘Crime Hunters’) and British far-right activists vandalising migrant rafts on French beaches. (Global Extremism, 2 April 2026)

2 April: A 58-year-old man in Vienna, Austria, receives a 24-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of charges under Austria’s Prohibition Act, including neo-Nazi activity involving hundreds of videos, images and messages depicting killings, torture and rape in a sexualised Nazi context, possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse material, and animal cruelty. (Stoppt die Rechten, 2 April 2026)

4 April: Around 200 anti-immigration protesters gather outside Coleraine town hall for what is billed as the launch of a movement called ‘Our Northern Ireland Voice’, with speakers including Richard Inman, an organiser for Tommy Robinson, calling for stopping HMOs, closing migrant hotels, deporting all ‘illegal immigrants’ immediately and ‘keeping our children safe’. (Irish News, 6 April 2026)

10 April: Phil Curson is found guilty of violent disorder for his role in the Epping riots of 17 July 2025, during which a mob attacked police officers and counter-protesters. Curson, who was previously jailed for violent disorder and racially aggravated grievous bodily harm following a knife attack on two teenagers in Romford, was caught on body camera shoving and kicking officers. He awaits sentencing. (Searchlight, 10 April 2026)

ANTI-TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY

1 April: Counter-terrorism police arrest two British nationals and a 17-year-old boy described as a dual British-Pakistani national in connection with an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in north London. (Guardian, 1 April 2026)

2 April: Britain’s head of counterterrorism, Assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, says that the Prevent scheme has been ‘overwhelmed’ by a large surge of referrals. More than 10,000 people were referred to Prevent this year, up more than a third from two years ago, with the majority involving young people interested in violence. (Guardian, 2 April 2026)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

1 April: The conviction of Palestine coalition organisers Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham for breaching protest conditions imposed on a national demonstration is condemned as a shocking attack on civil liberties by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. A judge at Westminster Magistrates Court describes a speech by Jamal as incitement by ‘suggestion, persuasion and inducement’ to breach protest conditions. (Guardian, 1 April 2026)

1 April: The IOPC launches an investigation into six Met officers who forced a 16-year-old Black boy off his electric bike during a stop and search in Tottenham in November 2025. The child suffered a broken knee and the investigation focuses on the level of force used and whether race or age were factors in his treatment and aftercare. (BBC News, 1 April 2026)

1 April: The Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board finds that five years after police in England and Wales launched a race action plan in response to Black Lives Matter, there has been no ‘meaningful impact’, as tackling racism in policing lacks clear national leadership. (Guardian, 1 April 2026)

2 April: Citing a failed attempt to bomb the Bank of America building in Paris, a major ‘terrorist risk’ and the possibility of its disruption by ‘small far-right groups’, French police ban the Annual Gathering of the Muslims of France due to take place at Bourget, north of Paris. (Le Monde, 2 April 2026)

2 April: In France, after far-right National Rally MP Matthias Renault files a complaint against French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan (La France Insoumise) for ‘apology for terrorism’ in a post about Palestinian resistance, she is arrested. Since October 2023, hundreds of criminal investigations have been launched into comments made about Israel’s war on Gaza. (Middle East Eye, 2 April 2026)

6 April: The Home Office launches a new ‘hyper-targeted’ programme to halve knife crime, announcing that a partnership for safety in and around schools could benefit up to 250 schools, identified on the basis of mapping technology, as areas where children are at risk walking to and from school. (Guardian, 6 April 2026)

10 April: The Met refuses permission for the annual commemoration of the Nakba to take place along its preferred route but approves the route, on the same day, of a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration led by Tommy Robinson, leading to an open letter of protest about police preferential treatment of the far-right. Tommy Robinson tweets ‘London is ours on May 16th’. (Guardian, 10 April 2026)

11 April: The Met arrests over 500 people, including Massive Attack musician Robert Del Naja, at the first mass demonstration opposing the proscription of Palestine Action since the group’s ban was ruled unlawful by the high court in February. (Guardian, 11 April 2026)

13 April: After the CPS offers no evidence, three Palestine Action activists are found not guilty of violent disorder in connection with a break-in at an Elbit Systems site near Bristol. Charges of criminal damage remain. (BBC News, 13 April 2026)

13 April: More than 40,000 people sign a petition condemning the controversial government amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill allowing for the banning of demonstrations based on their ‘cumulative disruption’. (Morning Star, 13 April 2026)

14 April: The IOPC launches an inquiry into possible gross misconduct of 11 police officers (including investigating whether their actions were influenced by the victim’s race) over their handling of an inquiry into a car crash at a Study prep school in south-west London in July 2023, which killed schoolgirls Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau. (Guardian, 14 April 2026) 

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights 

1 April: A report by Migrants Organise warns that a lack of access to legal aid-funded representation for asylum seekers and the falling rate of initial grant decisions is leading to a growing ‘dissonance’ between ‘formal guarantees of fairness and the lived reality’, and calls for urgent changes to safeguard access to justice. (EIN, 1 April 2026)

Borders and internal controls

1 April: Two migrants die attempting to board a dinghy to cross the Channel near Calais, France and six others are rescued, with one needing emergency medical treatment. (BBC News, 1 April 2026)

1 April: As refugees accuse Croatian authorities of illegal pushbacks and violence at the border with Bosnia, over 100 rescuers, including police and firefighters, attempt to save dozens of people believed to be undocumented migrants stranded in a swamp on the border, as fears grow that others have died trying to cross a river. (Al Jazeera, 1 April 2026; ANSA, 1 April 2026)

2 April: Morocco’s interior minister says over 70,000 ‘illegal migration’ attempts were thwarted in 2025 and 300 smuggling networks dismantled as tighter border controls and coordination with Spanish authorities led to fewer migrants using the route, with more travelling via West Africa and other southern Mediterranean countries. (Reuters, 3 April 2026)

4 April: As Polish authorities record a 96 percent drop in attempts to cross the border from Belarus in the first quarter of 2026 – attributed to a suspension of the right to seek asylum at the border, tighter border controls and security infrastructure – an NGO reports illegal pushbacks, abuse and dehumanising treatment of migrants there. (TVP World, 4 April 2026; Polskie Radio, 2 April 2026)

7 April: A new Statewatch report, Financing the violence, analyses EU funding for the Libyan militias making up the country’s coastguard, which has been responsible for at least 24 attacks on rescue vessels, including the use of firearms. (Statewatch, 7 April 2026) 

9 April: Two men and two women die, swept away by the current, as the dinghy they are trying to board off the coast of Boulogne, France, sinks. (Guardian, 9 April 2026) 

Reception and detention

5 April: Whilst it is unlawful to detain unaccompanied child asylum seekers in adult detention centres, data gathered by Humans for Rights reveals that, since September, 76 age-disputed children have been held under the ‘one in, one out’ policy, many of whom are survivors of torture and trafficking and are experiencing an acute decline in their mental health as a consequence. (Guardian, 5 April 2025)

9 April: The ECtHR condemns Belgium for failing to provide accommodation to four asylum seekers, leaving them destitute and street homeless for several months in winter, which amounts to degrading treatment, the court holds, awarding the men ‘moral damages’ between €5,000 and €12,000. (RTBF, 9 April 2026)

Deportations 

13 April: The Chief Inspector of Prisons reveals that waist and leg restraints were used on people being deported to France under the ‘one in, one out’ deal the day after detainees held a protest against their detention and deportation in January. (Guardian, 13 April 2026)

EDUCATION

2 April: A primary school student is reported to have been referred to Prevent for kicking a classmate a day after watching the children’s movie Kung Fu Panda. (Guardian, 2 April 2026)

7 April: Following a complaint that City of Sanctuary UK was involved in inappropriate political activity related to its activities in schools, and that schoolchildren were encouraged to send Valentine Day cards to adult asylum seekers, the Charity Commission clears the organisation of any wrongdoing, concluding that the charity faced a misinformation campaign that included threats to trustees and staff. (Gov.UK, 7 April 2026)

9 April: 22,000 students studying on ‘weekend courses’ at English universities, and who received government maintenance loans and grants worth thousands of pounds, are told by Student Finance England that they must pay them back as their universities wrongly told them they were eligible. (Guardian, 9 April 2026)

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE

7 April: A London Council is criticised after failing to deal with repairs on a Gypsy and Traveller site for three years, leaving residents living in ‘slum conditions’ (Inside Housing, 7 April 2026).

12 April: It is reported that local authorities in Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire have launched eviction proceedings against Travellers who occupied sites they own in the counties over the Easter weekend, with an emergency injunction stopping further development of the Surrey site. Local authorities regularly ignore their statutory duties to facilitate authorised Traveller sites. (Sky News, 12 April 2026)

14 April: The government announces an extra £41m in support to local authorities to help enforce the Renters’ Rights Act and ensure landlords comply with the new rules, which come into effect from 1 May. (Inside Housing, 14 April 2026)

CULTURE| MEDIA| SPORT

While we cannot cover all incidents of racist abuse on sportspersons or their responses, we provide a summary of the most important incidents. For more information follow Kick it Out.

4 April: Moroccan-Dutch footballer Anwar El Ghazi wins his legal dispute with German club Mainz 05 after the German Labour Court rejects the club’s appeal, ruling that freedom of expression takes precedence over the club’s interests. El Ghazi’s contract was terminated in October 2023 after he refused to disown social media posts supporting Gaza, with the original July 2024 ruling awarding him compensation exceeding €1.5 million. (The Canary, 4 April 2026)

7 April: Wireless festival is cancelled after the Home Office bans rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) from entering the UK on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good. Ye, who was booked to headline all three days of the London festival in July, has faced widespread criticism for antisemitic remarks including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler and releasing a song called ‘Heil Hitler’. (Guardian, 7 April 2026)

7 April: Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior praises Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal for publicly condemning anti-Muslim chants directed at Egypt’s team during a friendly match in Spain last week, saying players with a ‘stronger voice’ must stick together in the fight against discrimination. Yamal, who is Muslim, had described the chants as ‘intolerable’ and called those responsible ‘ignorant and racist.’ (Al Jazeera, 7 April 2026)

9 April: A group of 27 independent traders in Brixton Plaza given four weeks’ notice to quit win a high court injunction preventing their eviction to make way for a supermarket, pending a full hearing to ascertain their statutory rights. (Leigh Day, 9 April 2026)

10 April: An independent review finds that Bafta fell short in its duty of care to guests and viewers when a Tourette’s campaigner involuntarily shouted a racial slur during the February ceremony, though it concludes there was no malicious intent and that the incident should not be described as evidence of institutional racism. Bafta apologises unreservedly, saying its planning and processes had ‘not kept pace’ with its diversity and inclusion goals. (BBC News, 10 April 2026)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

31 March: Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) in east Belfast are targeted with windows smashed and graffiti daubed on buildings by anti-immigration protesters. The family of the owner of Belfast Property Meet, also chair of Ballymena United Football Club, is subjected to a campaign of intimidation and an event at the club is cancelled for ‘security reasons’ after an  protest is announced outside the stadium. (Irish News, 6 April 2026)

4 April: For the second time in two days, racist graffiti is sprayed on the walls of a mosque and the Jami Community and Education Centre in Kingstanding, Birmingham. In one incident the word ‘terrorists’ was sprayed on the building. Police launch an investigation for racially/religiously aggravated criminal damage. (BBC News, 4 April 2026)

This calendar is researched by IRR staff and compiled by Sophie Chauhan, with the assistance of Graeme Atkinson, Sam Berkson, Margaret McAdam and Louis Ordish. Thanks also to ECRE, the Never Again Association, Research Against Global Authoritarianism and Stopwatch, whose regular updates on asylum, migration, far Right, racial violence, employment and policing issues are an invaluable source of information. Find these stories and all others since 2014 on our searchable database, the Register of Racism and Resistance. 

The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors.

The majority of the IRR’s work is free to access. Please consider supporting our research and analysis by making a donation.

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