ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY
As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below which also includes information on the influence of the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally.
For more on the racist riots in Ballymena, see the racial violence section.
10 June: An electoral tribunal strips three members of the neo-fascist Spartans Party in Greece of their parliamentary seats, citing electoral fraud as the supposed party leader was in fact under the control of a neo-Nazi, the former leader of the now disbanded Golden Dawn. (Guardian, 10 June 2025)
11 June: Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledges to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 in her spending review, as refugee charities call for asylum seekers to be housed in communities. (Independent, 11 June 2025)
11 June: In a joint statement on the racist riots in Ballymena, County Antrim, ministers from across Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive (Sinn Féin, the Democratic Unionist party, the Alliance party and the Ulster Unionist party) say that those who sow racial division and disorder have nothing to offer society. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
11 June: Tyler Hoey, Ballymena’s deputy mayor and a Democratic Unionist party councillor, condemns the violence but adds that while foreigners are welcome, the UK government had allowed ‘busloads’ of unvetted people to settle in the town and that ‘unfettered immigration’ needs to be addressed. (Guardian, 11 June 2025)
12 June: There are calls for the DUP communities minister Gordon Lyons to resign in relation to social media posts that he put out shortly before an arson attack on the Larne leisure centre in which he complained he had not been consulted about the decision to accommodate those fleeing the Ballymena violence at the centre. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
14 June: Taoiseach Micheal Martin calls for a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to ‘racially-motivated’ violence on either side of the Irish border, saying that what happened in Ballymena this week has been completely unacceptable. (RTE, 14 June 2025)
Large turnout at Belfast City Hall for a United Against Racism rally following racist attacks this week. pic.twitter.com/keaz6ZNGoy
— North Belfast News (@NorthBelfastNew) June 14, 2025
16 June: As the Casey audit on ‘grooming gangs’ is published, claiming it is ‘not racist’ to focus on the ethnicity of perpetrators of group child sexual abuse, Keir Starmer announces a new investigation into old cases and a public inquiry into the issue. (Gov.uk, 16 June 2025; Observer, 15 June 2025)
17 June: At a press conference following the Casey audit, shadow home secretary Chris Philp says child sexual exploitation is a ‘border security issue’, with ‘illegal immigration’ ‘fuelling’ the crisis. (Daily Mail, 17 June 2025)
17 June: The Green Party publishes a report, No Way Home, arguing that migration policy should be removed from the Home Office, which should be broken up to separate asylum and migration from security for a more humane, community-focused system. (Green Party, 17 June 2025)
17 June: At the G7 summit in Canada, the prime minister says that the UK will adopt a more ‘transactional’ approach to granting visas, dependent on a country’s cooperation in accepting failed asylum seekers and taking preventative measures to deter people from travelling to the UK and Europe. (Guardian, 17 June 2025)
19 June: Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony says that the city’s Pride march will go ahead on 28 June despite a ban by Hungarian police citing new legislation prohibiting the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s, as dozens of MEPs from all over Europe pledge their attendance. (Guardian, 19 June 2025; Guardian, 18 June 2025)
21 June: The leader of Halton borough council and the Cheshire police and crime commissioner call on the Runcorn and Helsby Reform MP, Sarah Pochin, to withdraw factually incorrect statements about asylum seekers in Runcorn. (Liverpool Echo, 21 June 2025)
22 June: The Adjudication Panel for Wales disqualifies former Pembrokeshire Conservative councillor Andrew Edwards from public office for four years after he breaches conduct rules by sending a racist WhatsApp note saying that white men should have Black slaves. (BBC News, 22 June 2025)
24 June: In Belgium, the Flemish interior minister says that Aalter Council’s residence checks, which discriminate against non-Belgians and make inclusion in the population register dependent on inspections of the quality of accommodation, are illegal. (VRT News, 24 June 2025)
ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT
With anti-migrant, anti-Muslim, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI activities increasingly interlinking, we now incorporate information on the Christian Right as well as the religious Right generally.
11 June: At a commercial court in Paris, France, lawyers launch a group action for ten clients who want leases with Elon Musk’s car firm Tesla terminated on account of the vehicles have become strong political symbols and ‘extreme right totems’, also citing Musk’s support for AfD. (Le Monde, 11 June 2025)
11 June: In Poland, far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun vandalises an LGBT rights exhibition in parliament by tearing down and folding display boards, prompting his immediate ban from the building. The speaker’s guard is criticised for failing to intervene, while speaker Szymon Hołownia declares there is ‘no place for hooligans’ in the Sejm. (TVP World, 11 June 2015)
11 June: In Portugal, neo-Nazis attack actors outside a Lisbon theatre on Portugal Day, forcing the cancellation of a play honouring national poet Luis de Camoes. One actor is hospitalised, and police detain a suspect after the assault by a group returning from a far-right rally. (SRN News, 11 June 2025)
11 June: German prosecutors charge seven individuals over violent attacks on neo-Nazis in Germany and Hungary. The group is linked to Lina E., whose 2023 conviction sparked widespread protests under the slogan ‘Free Lina’, with supporters defending anti-fascist resistance. Prosecutors say the assaults were carefully planned and targeted far-right figures. (Insider Paper, 11 June 2025)
12 June: In Finland, dozens of individuals linked to neo-Nazi groups are identified after signing support cards for the far-right Sinimusta liike party during the secretive White Boy Summer Fest in Ruovesi in June 2024. Signatories include members of known extremist groups, revealing overlap between the party and neo-Nazi networks. (Helsinki Times, 12 June 2025)
12 June: Polish authorities detain three men suspected of planning a far-right-inspired attack, citing their admiration for mass killers like Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik. The group reportedly trained with firearms, studied explosives and conducted paramilitary drills while developing extremist views. The third suspect, a 19-year-old, is arrested in Olsztyn following earlier arrests in April. (Canadian Press, 12 June 2025)
12 June: Dutch police arrest eight self-proclaimed ‘sovereign citizens’ suspected of plotting violence against authorities, seizing firearms, explosives and chemicals in raids across the country. The group rejects state authority and has a history of threatening officials, prompting concern from national security agencies. (Dutch News, 12 June 2025)
17 June: Portuguese police arrest six members of a far-right group accused of trying to form an armed militia, seizing firearms, explosives and 3D-printed weapons. The suspects, including a senior police officer, face terrorism and incitement of hatred charges as authorities link them to the Lusitanian Armillary Movement. The arrests come amid a rise in far-right activity and recent violent incidents following the electoral surge of the anti-immigration Chega party. (Reuters, 17 June 2025)
17 June: The Durham Miners’ Association decides to exclude Reform UK councillors from its Gala due to the party’s promotion of divisive and hate-filled views, including Islamophobic comments from some of its representatives. The DMA emphasizes its commitment to social justice and rejects Reform UK’s blaming of immigration for social crises, highlighting a clear stance against racism and intolerance. (Durham Miners, 17 June 2025)
21 June: The new head of Scouts and Guides in France, teacher Marine Rosset, elected on 14 June, is attacked by far-right Catholic sites including Salon Beige, Boulevard Voltaire and Frontières for her socialism and for being a lesbian, which are claimed to be ‘incompatible with the presidency’ of the organisation. (Le Monde, 21 June 2025)
22 June: After the far Right floods social media with false claims that a knife attack in Sunderland was carried out by an ‘illegal migrant’ living in asylum accommodation, Cllr Mark Burrell (Houghton, Labour) says ‘can we just let the police do their job without having a running commentary because idiots are trying to recreate last summer’s riots’. (Facebook, Cllr Mark Burrell, 22 June 2025)
23 June: The pressure group Great British PAC, launched in September 2024, is packed with extremists, according to a new analysis by Hope Not Hate, with 13 members of its team promoting far-right views and conspiracy theories online. (Hope Not Hate, 23 June 2025)
ANTI-TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY
23 June: Three days after activists from Palestine Action break into RAF Brize Norton to spray red paint on warplanes, the home secretary announces plans in parliament to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, making it illegal to be a member of or invite support for the organisation. A joint open letter from seven legal and advocacy groups says the UK is sacrificing fundamental freedoms ‘to shield a colonial apartheid state committing genocide’, and hundreds gather in central London to express support for Palestine Action. (Guardian, 23 June 2025; British Palestinian Committee, 23 June 2025)
POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
11 June: FOI requests reveal, in England in 2024, 424 instances of women suffering mental health crises in prisons being stripped and made to wear ‘last-resort’ anti-rip clothing to prevent suicide, which inspectors describe as ‘punitive’. (Open Democracy, 11 June 2025)
11 June: In Brussels, Belgium, the police officer accused of killing Fabian, an 11-year-old boy driving an e-scooter, during a police pursuit is placed under house arrest after the Brussels Prosecutor says that the police motivation for giving pursuit was ‘nothing other than him riding’ a scooter and there were ‘no drugs, no aggression’. (Politico, 11 June 2025)
12 June: Lord Bracadale, the chair of the Sheku Bayoh inquiry (into Bayoh’s death in 2015) is accused of bias by Scotland’s solicitor-general after allegations by the Scottish Police Federation that he had held private meetings with the family and imparted information not shared with others – a claim he rejects. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
13 June: Mark Kelly, the brother of 12-year-old Ann Kelly, who was killed by a plastic bullet in 1981, speaking on behalf of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, says that while he condemns the racist riots, plastic bullets have no place in public order policing and should not be have been deployed in response to the disturbances. (Belfast Media, 13 June 2025)
16 June: MPs and privacy campaigners express alarm at contracts signed by police forces with Palantir for an AI-powered software package that uses data about individuals’ race, sex life, health and political beliefs. An internal memo indicates the intention for the software, currently piloted by Bedfordshire police, to be used nationally. (The I paper, 16 June 2025)
17 June: Louise Casey tells MPs to ‘keep calm’ over ethnicity of ‘grooming gangs’ and that data should be used responsibly in public debate, challenging claims that men of Asian heritage are disproportionate offenders in child exploitation cases by showing how statistics can be easily misrepresented. (Guardian, 17 June 2025)
18 June: The chair of the Independent Monitoring Boards tells the justice secretary that it would be irresponsible to roll out the use of Pava to all England and Wales youth prisons, since evidence shows that the pepper spray is used disproportionately on Black and minority inmates. (Guardian, 18 June 2025)
18 June: Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara of the Irish-language rap group Kneecap, appears at Westminster magistrates’ court charged with support for terrorism, and is bailed to return on 20 August, as supporters and pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside the court. (BBC News, 18 June 2025; RTÉ, 18 June 2025)
19 June: Two Telford ‘grooming gang’ survivors demand that their experiences not be politically exploited and push for women to shape the new investigation. (Guardian, 19 June 2025)
19 June: The Met police pay £25,000 in damages to a Black man stopped outside his home, detained and handcuffed for a prolonged period in a case his lawyers, who brought a case of assault, forced imprisonment and race discrimination, characterise as detention for ‘driving a nice car at night’. (Bhatt Murphy, 19 June 2025)
21 June: It is reported that the National Crime Agency, Britain’s top law enforcement agency, is investigating more cases of people smuggling than drug smuggling, owing to pressure from the Home Office. (Observer, 21 June 2025)
ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP
Asylum and migrant rights
12 June: Official statistics show that the backlog of immigration appeals waiting to be heard has increased to 90,000 as of March 2025, from 50,000 in March 2024. Asylum appeals have risen from 27,000 to 51,000 over the period, with people waiting over a year for hearings. (Free Movement, 12 June 2025)
12 June: As statistics reveal that the grant rate for Afghan asylum claims has dropped from 98.5% in the last quarter of 2023 to 36% in Q4/ 2024, the Home Office reverses the denial of an Afghan woman’s claim based on her high profile human rights work, and grants her refugee status. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
13 June: A Spanish border guard is suspended for 90 days following allegations that he exploited Moroccan migrants, including children, demanding sex, money and gifts in exchange for help with asylum procedures. (Yabiladi, 9 June 2025)
16 June: A review of applications for Windrush compensation finds that those who got legal advice (not available on government funding) received significantly higher compensation than those without. (Guardian, 16 June 2025)
16 June: As Ukrainian visas approach expiration, with only an 18-month Ukrainian Protection Extension visa available for those who want to stay, charities call for a path to settlement and the visa to be extended to 36 months, as uncertainty in immigration status leaves many unable to find work and rent accommodation. (Independent, 16 June 2025)
17 June: A group of 60 migrants on the ten-year route to settlement launch a campaign, United Impact, to scrap NHS charges for migrants and to reduce the ten-year route to five years. (Project 17, 17 June 2025)
17 June: A report by London Councils and the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services finds unaccompanied young asylum seekers are experiencing confusion, delays, and harmful age assessments, as they urge root and branch reform and a child-centred approach in the asylum and care systems. (London Councils, 17 June 2025)
18 June: Save the Children Europe publishes a new report, Crossing Lines, revealing how refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe are systematically abused, detained and misidentified as adults. (Save the Children Resource Centre, 18 June 2025)
18 June: The Home Office tells the parents of two 8- and 11-year-old children that their children have no right to stay in the UK and must return to Brazil. The letter warns that for the 11-year-old, ‘staying in the UK illegally could lead to him being detained, prosecuted, not being allowed to work or rent and having his driving licence taken away from him’. (Guardian, 18 June 2025)
23 June: The ELSC announces it will challenge an administrative court ruling that upheld a decision, informed by the intelligence services, to deny a one-year-old baby, travelling with his Palestinian-Jordanian mother, the right to re-enter Germany, on the grounds that the mother, a nurse with residence rights living in Frankfurt am Main, is a security threat due to her alleged involvement in Palestine solidarity groups. (Middle East Eye, 23 June 2023)
Borders and internal controls
11 June: The EU signs an agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina to enable Frontex to conduct operations at ports and at Bosnia’s 1,000km border with Croatia to stop undocumented migrants entering the EU. (InfoMigrants, 13 June 2025)
12 June: A new report from MSF, Deadly Manoeuvres: Obstruction and violence in the Central Mediterranean, describes the lethal effect of Italian legislation and operations designed to remove search and rescue vessels from the central Mediterranean, halving the numbers of people who could be rescued. (MSF, 12 June 2025)
🚨A new report by @MSF, “Deadly Manoeuvres: Obstruction and Violence in the Central Mediterranean”, exposes how EU policies & Italian sanctions are deliberately undermining rescue efforts.
Read more here👉🏾https://t.co/ukrOYmBTq4 pic.twitter.com/PBPfmeei1z
— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) June 12, 2025
13 June: At Gravelines near Calais, French police fire tear gas and pepper spray at migrants, including at least one family, seeking to board ‘small boats’ heading to the UK. Officers with shields wade into the water to drag them back to shore. The action follows pressure from the British home secretary for the French to do more to prevent embarkations. Standard, 14 June 2025, Daily Mail 13 June 2025)
17 June: French police again fire tear gas at migrants as they run towards the sea at Gravelines beach to board dinghies, although they do not pull back those in the water. They refuse to confirm whether the use of tear gas has become common practice in this situation. (Sky News, 17 June 2025)
18 June: Over 4,000 French police and military officials begin a two-day nationwide sweep of train stations for undocumented migrants, as interior minister Bruno Retailleau warns migrants: ‘Do not come to France, it’s zero tolerance’. (Le Monde, 20 June 2025)
18 June: A new report, Suppression of movement, reveals how Algeria is using pushbacks to Tunisia, mass expulsions to Niger and deportations to Libya and Morocco, with assistance from Italy and Germany as well as the IOM and UNHCR, as part of strengthening the European border regime. (Statewatch, 19 June 2025)
20 June: A proposed law change to legalise French police interception of small boats up to 300 metres from shore to stop embarkations, will cause more deaths, French charity Utopia 56 says, and will be challenged in European courts. (Guardian, 20 June 2025)
20 June: A 54-year-old man is arrested for organising vigilante border patrols against asylum seekers entering the Netherlands through a WhatsApp group and threatening police to multiply the numbers participating unless more official patrols were initiated. (NL Times, 20 June 2025)
20 June: As part of the Electronic Travel Authorisation and eVisa roll-out, the Foreign Office and Home Office are delivering a scheme deputising airline workers in 39 countries as frontline immigration officers to stop passengers boarding if they do not have the correct paperwork. (Guardian, 20 June 2025)
23 June: Italian state police launch trilateral patrols with Croatia and Slovenia for three months at the Croatia-Bosnia border area of Cetingrad, to contain spontaneous immigration on the Balkan route. (ANSA, 24 June 2025)
Reception and detention
20 June: The Irish migration minister says that the cost of accommodating asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees (€400 million in the first quarter of 2025) is ‘neither sustainable nor acceptable in the long term’, as he lists measures to reduce costs, such as shorter processing times, renegotiation of contracts with private providers and state purchase of accommodation. (RTÉ, 20 June 2025)
Deportations
18 June: An open letter by 12 members of the Protect not Surveil coalition, including Statewatch, warns MEPs that the EU’s proposed deportation regulation will violate people’s rights through the expansion of digital surveillance and control. (Statewatch, 18 June 2025)
22 June: The founder of Windrush day, Patrick Vernon, calls for a public inquiry into the Windrush scandal, as he says the detention and removal of Black Britons wrongly accused of being in the UK illegally is not treated seriously enough. (Guardian, 22 June 2025)
Crimes of solidarity
16 June: The civil rescue vessel Sea-Eye 5, operated by German NGO Sea-Eye, is detained in the port of Pozzallo, Italy, after rescuing 65 migrants, on charges of not obeying instructions from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome, delaying disembarkation and not leaving the port promptly, which the organisation says are baseless. Another rescue ship, the Nadir, operated by NGO Resqship, was detained at Lampedusa on 5 June on similar charges. (Sea Eye, 16 June 2025; ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 19 June 2025)
Latest instance of criminalisation of solidarity with migrants:
Civil rescue ship SEA-EYE 5 was detained by Italian authorities in the port of Pozzallo on 16 June, after the crew saved 65 people in distress in the Central Med.
— Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) (@picumofficial.bsky.social) 23 June 2025 at 13:57
Citizenship
19 June: The government introduces a bill, to operate retrospectively, to ensure that when British citizenship is revoked, it is not automatically reinstated following a successful initial legal appeal and to stop individuals regaining British citizenship renouncing any other nationalities. (EIN, 19 June 2025)
23 June: A petition is launched urging foreign secretary David Lammy to assist British citizens of Iranian heritage who travelled for family visits and are now trapped by the escalating conflict, with no indication of help from the government for their evacuation, unlike British nationals in Israel. (The Petition Site, 23 June 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION
11 June: The League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDH) in France launches a legal action in the Paris Judicial Court against French company Eurolink and IMI Systems, a subsidiary of Israeli defence firm Elbit, alleging complicity in war crimes and genocide. (Le Monde, 12 June 2025)
18 June: Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood says that Britain will seek reform of the European Convention on Human Rights following an ITV documentary in which two Brazilians, wanted for murder and rape, were able under article 3 of the ECHR (prohibition on return to torture) to stay in Britain. (Guardian, 18 June 2025)
19 June: The Council of Europe calls on Germany to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly amid ongoing restrictions on pro-Palestinian demonstrations and increased surveillance of individuals. (Middle East Monitor, 19 June 2025)
EDUCATION
Although we do not cover student protests for Palestine, we do track university administrative measures that deny the right to protest and authorise the use of force, or silence pro-Palestinian voices and display anti-Palestinian bias.
12 June: Latest government figures on Special Education Needs (SEN) in England show that the number of pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) has risen by 11% in the past year, and more than doubled since 2016. Pupils of Irish traveller heritage are most likely to have an EHCP, with 9% on a plan compared to a national average of 5.26%, while EHCPs for pupils of Black Caribbean, mixed White and Black Caribbean, and Roma heritage are also significantly above average. The same ethnic groups are more likely to be registered as having SEN without an EHCP. (TES, 12 June 2025)
13 June: In an interview with FE Week, social mobility chair Alun Francis says that Ofsted’s new focus on inclusion could lead schools to ‘bend over backwards to accommodate everybody’, that the ‘education system is turning into a therapy centre’ and that schools should ‘shut up’ about what they do to ameliorate children’s poverty as it’s what everyone has always done. (Schools Week, 13 June 2025)
16 June: Northern Ireland’s education minister reports a spike in school absences in two schools in Ballymena following the riots, with children ‘both engaged in the disorder’ and ‘victims of it’. It is ‘outrageous’ that children have been traumatised and that some children rioting have attacked the homes of classmates, he says. (BBC News, 16 June 2025)
17 June: The principal of Fane Street primary school, south Belfast, which has employed a family support worker to support families affected by the riots, says that three families of pupils have left due to fear of violence. (BBC News, 17 June 2025)
19 June: Following campus disputes, especially over the war in Gaza, new guidance from the Office for Students prevents English universities from blanket bans on student protest and only allows for the penalising of students and staff for unlawful speech or harassment. (Guardian, 19 June 2025)
HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE
14 June: As silent marchers commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 people died, campaigners say the prospect of achieving justice is receding; the only decision taken by government has been to demolish the tower, and despite the damning conclusions of the public inquiry, many of the officials criticised are still working in housing, and no arrests have been made. (Morning Star, 15 June 2025; Guardian, 14 June 2025)
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
12 June: NHS Confederation chair Victor Adebowale, speaking at the NHS ConfedExpo conference, says his mother received ‘a Black service, not an NHS service’ as he addresses racism in health provision. (LBC News, 14 June 2025)
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.
12 June: The BBC condemns David Walliams for making a Nazi salute during a recording of Would I Lie to You, apologising to those present and confirming the segment will not be broadcast. (BBC News, 12 June 2025)
13 June: The Bishop of Kirkstall says that the Church of England, influenced by ‘extreme views from abroad and at home’, has made a ‘brutal’ cut in funding to tackle racism – down from £26.7m in the past three years to £12m in the next three. (Guardian, 13 June 2025)
17 June: A study by the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring finds, based on analysis of 35,000 pieces of content between October 2023 and 2024, that the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza is ‘systematically biased against Palestinians’. (Middle East Eye, 17 June 2025)
18 June: France sees the long-delayed release of a modern Beauty and the Beast after the Education Ministry cancelled its distribution to 800,000 students, sparking outrage. The decision, justified with claims about social media, alcohol, and age-appropriateness, was widely condemned as censorship, with the author pointing to the heroine’s brown skin and curly hair as the real reason for cancellation. (Euronews, 18 June 2025)
20 June: The BBC states it will not broadcast a documentary about doctors in Gaza, saying it never completed final editorial approval and will not be a BBC film, despite earlier involvement. Independent producer Basement Films claims that the BBC repeatedly delayed release and abandoned the project after extensive compliance and fact-checking, accusing the broadcaster of silencing Gaza medics’ stories. (BBC News, 20 June 2025)
22 June: Prime minister Keir Starmer says it is not ‘appropriate’ for Irish rap band Kneecap, one of whose members is on bail for alleged support for Hezbollah, to perform at Glastonbury next week, after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says the BBC should not broadcast the band’s set. (RTÉ, 22 June 2025)
21 June: At least 145 women attending France’s street music festival in towns across France report being jabbed by syringes following social media posts calling for the targeting of women during the festival. (Le Monde, 22 June 2025)
RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT
For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
9 June: After two 14-year boys, accompanied by a Romanian translator, appear in court on rape charges, a vigil for a teenage girl allegedly assaulted in the predominantly Protestant town of Ballymena, County Antrim, erupts into a racist riot after a section of the crowd break away and attack foreign-owned businesses. The windows of several houses are attacked. The chair of Police Federation for Northern Ireland says police prevented a pogrom. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
10 June: Police use water cannon and plastic baton rounds in an attempt to disperse crowds in Ballymena, County Antrim. Smaller anti-immigrant protests take place in Lisburn, Coleraine, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus and Belfast, with unrest spreading to parts of Belfast and Carrickfergus. (Guardian, 12 June 2025; New York Times, 11 June 2025)
10 June: In the village of Cullybackey, around three miles from Ballymena, a vehicle is petrol-bombed outside a Filipino family home with a woman and two children inside, which is damaged. Police treat the attack as racially motivated. (Newsletter, 10 June 2025; New York Times, 11 June 2025)
11 June: Police use water cannon, dogs and plastic baton rounds to disperse rioters on the third night of rioting in County Antrim, with at least one person struck by a plastic bullet. Windows of houses are smashed and multiple fires lit on the streets. In nearby Larne, masked people set fires outside a leisure centre designated as an emergency rest centre for those in need following the violence. Staff and customers, including children, are in the centre at the time. (Guardian, 12 June 2025; Irish Independent, 12 June 2025)
12 June: A housing association in Portadown urges tenants to stay with friends in advance of a planned anti-immigrant protest in the town. (Guardian, 12 June 2025)
12 June: After Tunisian barber Hichem Miraoui is gunned down by a neighbour with known anti-Arab views in Puget-sur-Argens, southern France, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office opens its first investigation into a racially motivated act of domestic terrorism. (Al Jazeera, 12 June 2025)
13 June: In Northern Ireland, a fifth consecutive night of rioting sees violence spread to Portadown, where a water cannon was deployed; and Newry and Newtownabbey, where stones are thrown at the windows of a hotel. Police treat as racially motivated an incident in which a car is set alight in Belfast. (RTE, 14 June 2025)
14 June: Hundreds attend an anti-racist rally at City Hall Belfast, at which Amnesty International NI director says, ‘we are just one petrol bomb away from racially-motivated murder’. (RTE, 14 June 2025)
15 June: Stormont opposition leader asks Chief Constable of Northern Ireland about the involvement of loyalist paramilitaries in racist riots which spread from Ballymena to Portadown, Carrickfergus, Larne and Lurgan, resulting in 24 arrests and 14 people charged. (Belfast Telegraph, 15 June 2025)
18 June: Three masked individuals use sledgehammers to damage a fast food outlet in what police describe as a racist attack in Bushmills, Co Antrim. (Belfast Telegraph, 18 June 2025)
20 June: In an attack on Belfast Islamic Centre, a window is broken and an incendiary device thrown inside. A man is later arrested and charged with attempted arson and making explosives with intent to endanger life. (RTÉ, 22 June 2025)
22 June: Anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters march in Dublin city centre, Ireland. (RTÉ, 22 June 2025)
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.