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.

14 April: An investigation by Byline Times finds that the government funding arm of the former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds into the network surrounding Reform UK, including a think tank that received £57 million from Hungary’s state oil company days before the election that ousted Orbán. (Byline Times, 14 April 2026; DeSmog, 14 April 2026; New Republic, 14 April 2026)

14 April: French authorities refuse a visa to Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian civil rights group Al Haq, who is scheduled to address the European parliament’s human rights committee, despite France having earlier condemned Israel’s designation of Al Haq as a terrorist group. Belgium and the Netherlands are prepared to grant him entry. (EU Observer, 14 April 2026)

16 April: French MP Caroline Yadan’s bill against antisemitism, which was due to be debated in the Assemblée Nationale, is pulled from the agenda by pro-Macron MPs who had previously championed it, after a controversy over its content. (Le Monde, 16 April 2026)

16 April: ‘Stomach churning’ anti-Muslim rants from Bradford local election Reform UK candidate Daniel Devaney, who talked of ‘blasting’ followers of Islam off the face of the Earth, are exposed by the Daily Mirror. (Daily Mirror, 16 April 2026) 

17 April: Hope Not Hate accuses Restore Britain, which currently has 18 local councillors through defections by already-elected councillors, of trying to ‘disguise’ the extreme views and affiliations of its candidates in the May local elections. (Byline Times, 17 April 2026) 

🔴 Trojan Horse? Rupert Lowe’s Far-Right Restore Britain Is Standing 13 Candidates as ‘Independents’ in One Council

Anti-racist campaigners accuse the ex-Reform MP of seeking to “disguise” the extreme views and affiliations of his candidateshttps://t.co/8Ot0tKrO2x

— Byline Times (@BylineTimes) April 17, 2026

18 April: Two more Reform UK candidates (Alan Stay, Isle of Wight and Carlone Panetta, Bexley, outer London) in May local elections are accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts. (Guardian, 18 April 2026) 

18 April: The Guardian reports that Rupert Lowe’s electoral party Restore Britain appears to have accepted a donation from Miles Routledge (who posts under the name ‘Lord Miles’), who called publicly on social media for ‘another Hitler’ to come to power. (Guardian, 18 April 2026) 

20 April: The home secretary bans US-based anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez, scheduled to speak at the Unite the Kingdom rally in May, from entering the UK on the grounds that her presence is not conducive to the public good. (Independent, 20 April 2026)

21 April: Amnesty International in France issues a statement warning that ‘the virulence of the political and media debate, particularly the racist attacks and the abuse directed at the rule of law, are extremely worrying warning signs’ in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections. (Le Monde, 21 April 2026)

21 April: The European Court of Justice rules that Hungary’s anti-LGBT law, which prohibits or restricts the ‘portrayal or promotion’ of sexual orientation to children and adolescents in education, media and advertising, is an attempt to stigmatise LGBT people under the guise of child protection, breaches EU anti-discrimination law and has no place in the EU. (Human Rights Watch, 22 April 2026)

22 April: Following a Times investigation, Reform UK investigates eight of its councillor candidates who allegedly called Nazis ‘real visionaries’, said migrants breed ‘like rats’ and told rioters to burn down a mosque. (Times, 22 April 2026)

24 April: Greens leader Zack Polanski accuses the PM of playing political games over antisemitism and calls for politicians to treat the issue with ‘consideration, care and nuance’ after Starmer accused him of playing down antisemitic incidents. Polanski has said the issue was weaponised against Jeremy Corbyn when he led Labour. (Guardian, 24 April 2026)

25 April: A joint investigation by Hope Not Hate and the Daily Mirror finds that three Reform candidates (David Prior, George Parnell and John Black) were once affiliated to the fascist British National Party. Reform says that all three candidates have been expelled. (Hope Not Hate, 25 April 2026)

🚨EXCLUSIVE: A joint investigation by HOPE not hate and @DailyMirror has found that three Reform UK candidates were once affiliated with the fascist British National Party (BNP).https://t.co/8DiI7ktpHx

— HOPE not hate (@hopenothate) April 25, 2026

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

For the policing of far-right and anti-fascist protests see also Policing 

16 April: Germany’s far-right party AfD invites white nationalist group Ein Prozent and a former neo-Nazi leader to present at the European Parliament, framing progressive NGOs and Jewish philanthropist George Soros as part of a ‘leftist cartel’ interfering in elections. (Global Extremism, 16 April 2026)

16 April: A Byline Times investigation claims that neo-Nazi hacker Andrew Auernheimer, known as ‘Weev’, served as a key link between billionaire Peter Thiel’s network and far-right online subcultures. Proponents of fake accounts, disinformation and coordinated harassment tactics, as well as the Thiel-funded facial recognition company Clearview AI, are linked to the same network, it is claimed.  (Byline Times, 16 April 2026)

18 April: Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom, Jordan Bardella of France’s Rassemblement National and far-right politicians from Austria, Spain and Czech Republic join The League’s Matteo Salvini at a far-right ‘Patriots for Europe’ rally in Milan, Italy, with a 2,000-strong crowd chanting ‘Remigration’. An estimated 5,000 anti-fascists march, blockaded by police with water cannons. (Euractiv, 19 April 2026; EuroNews, 18 April 2026)

22 April: Far-right groups and figures attempt to hijack grass-roots fuel cost protests in Ireland, with figures like Tommy Robinson and former MMA fighter Conor McGregor trying to steer the movement toward an anti-immigration narrative. (Global Extremism, 22 April 2026) 

25 April: In Leeds, extra police are drafted in and six people are arrested following protests by UKIP and Yorkshire Patriots and by Stand Up to Racism and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. (BBC News, 25 April 2026)

28 April: Lower the Flags Shrewsbury posts a reel showing flags being removed, pointing out that Operation Raise the Flags is not neutral or patriotic but an attempt to intimidate and divide communities. (Lower the Flags on Facebook, 28 April 2026) 

ANTI-TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY 

13 April: The Paris Criminal Court finds French company Lafarge guilty of financing terrorism and violating international sanctions by paying groups, including Islamic State, to keep its cement plant in Syria in operation during the civil war. The court imposes the maximum fine on the company and prison sentences on four former senior executives, in a first for corporate accountability. (ECCHR, 13 April 2026) 

16 April: Counter-terrorism police investigate an attempted arson attack on the offices of Volant Media, parent company of Persian media channel Iran International, in Wembley, north-west London. A teenager and two men, all British nationals, are arrested. The attack is linked to Iran. (Guardian, 16 April 2026; Al Jazeera, 16 April 2026)

19 April: Following the attack on Volant Media, the Iranian regime is further accused of targeting Iranian journalists working in London in a campaign of intimidation including threats and physical attacks. (Guardian, 19 April 2026)

19 April: Police say links to Iran are a serious ‘line of inquiry’ in relation to six incidents targeting Jewish premises, the Jewish-led ambulance service and a Persian media organisation. Those recruited to carry out ‘violence as a service’ are said to be committed, not to the cause but to earning quick cash, as prosecutions under the National Security Act will be considered. (Guardian, 20 April 2026)

23 April: Counter-terrorism analysts claim that Iranian intelligence services and Revolutionary Guard operatives are recruiting teenagers through criminal intermediaries to carry out low-level ‘hybrid warfare’ attacks in the UK and Europe, including on Jewish community sites. (Guardian, 23 April 2026)

23 April: In Ireland, the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation publishes its first report stating that there is a significant risk of an Islamist terrorist attack being planned or launched from the country and that extreme-right and extreme left-wing terrorism pose a threat. (RTE, 23 April 2026)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 

18 April: After anti-fascists oppose a Britain First rally in Manchester city centre, the Northern Police Monitoring Group condemns Greater Manchester police for facilitating the far-right demonstration and for consistent and serious aggression and violence, including the use of batons and PAVA spray, against counter-protesters. (NPMG, 18 April 2026; BBC News, 18 April 2026)

20 April: The daughter of retired 65-year-old NHS worker Nicholas Stone, who died after becoming unwell following police contact at a protest against the far-right Bristol Patriots in January, calls for a full and independent investigation into his death. The IOPC reconsiders its decision not to investigate the circumstances of Stone’s death. (Guardian, 20 April 2026)

20 April: The Runnymede Trust publishes Keeping Us Safe: Rethinking policing, harm and justice, which, on the basis of a nationally representative poll, finds strong public support for social investment over punitive enforcement in the policing of crime. (Runnymede Trust, 20 April 2026)

What actually keeps us safe?

Drawing on polling of over 5,000 people across Britain, we found that over half of the public believe investing in social and public services would do more to prevent crime than increasing police numbers or powers

— Runnymede Trust (@runnymedetrust.bsky.social) 20 April 2026 at 07:57

21 April: Youth worker Shaun Thompson, who was stopped and detained by police in February 2024 on the basis of a misidentification, and Big Brother Watch lose a High Court challenge to the Met’s use of live facial recognition technology, the judge saying that the technology’s potential to racially discriminate ‘was no more than faintly asserted’. (BBC News, 21 April 2026)

22 April: Research by the Children’s Commissioner finds that Black children in England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched than white peers, with the vast majority of strip searches (89 percent) carried out on suspicion of drugs possession. Black children are also overrepresented when police use force, with ‘size, gender or build’ used as justification. (Guardian, 22 April 2026)

23 April: The police and prisons ombudsman announces an investigation after a 16-year-old boy dies at Feltham young offender institution in south-west London. No details about the child’s ethnicity are given. (Social Work Today, 24 April 2026; Guardian, 23 April 2026)

24 April: Judith Butler, Tariq Ali, Sally Rooney, Greta Thunberg and Brian Eno are among 130 signatories to a seven-word letter, ‘We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action’ to the Court of Appeal ahead of the government’s appeal against the High Court ruling that the ban on PA is unlawful. (Guardian, 24 April 2026)

27 April: As the Met police negotiate with tech company Palantir over a possible multi-million pound AI contract to process criminal intelligence, petitions with over 330,000 signatures call for Palantir to be dropped and blocked from UK contracts, and London mayor Sadiq Khan expresses concern about public money supporting firms acting ‘contrary to London’s values’, in light of its actions in the US and Gaza and its recently released racist manifesto. (Guardian, 27 April 2026; El País, 11 April 2026) 

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights 

23 April: A new report from the Helen Bamber Foundation warns that reforms to the anti-trafficking NRM, which would treat survivors differently depending on whether their exploitation occurred in the UK or abroad, risks exposing some to further exploitation and re-trafficking. (HBF, 23 April 2026)

24 April: PAIH reports that the Court of Session in Scotland has intervened to keep alive a Palestinian refugee family reunion case for a mother and child who have been approved in principle to join their refugee husband and father in the UK but are trapped in Gaza by biometric rules the Home Office will not waive. (PAIH, 24 April 2026)

27 April: A Skill Migrants Alliance survey of over 10,000 migrant workers, including nurses, care workers, teachers, engineers and IT professionals, reveals that 62 percent would seriously consider leaving the UK for a third country such as Canada, Australia, Germany or a Gulf state if the government’s proposal to double the qualifying period for settlement is implemented, and another 31 percent would possibly leave. (National, 27 April 2026)

Borders and internal controls

23 April: Home secretary Shabana Mahmood signs a further £662 million, three-year deal with France to stop the small Channel-crossing boats. The deal includes 1,100 military, enforcement and intelligence officers to tackle smuggling gangs and refugees, and a 50-strong riot squad equipped with batons, shields and tear gas to ‘stop illegal migrants in their tracks’. (Guardian, 22 April 2026)

This isn’t a solution. It’s a dangerous escalation.

Funding riot squads and violent policing against people fleeing war and persecution is shameful and inhumane. We know it will only push them into even more dangerous routes — and cost more lives.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a…

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— Safe Passage International (@safepassageintl.bsky.social) 23 April 2026 at 11:00

28 April: Police in Belgium say more migrants are attempting small boat crossings to the UK from the country’s coastline, with 32 attempts so far this year, compared with just two last year. (ITV News, 28 April 2026) 

Reception and detention 

14 April: The government closes 11 asylum hotels, with more to close over the coming weeks, and moves 350 asylum-seekers into ‘basic accommodation’ at the Crowborough military camp in Sussex, as the immigration minister says it is shutting down hotels and scaling up large sites. (Guardian, 14 April 2026)

20 April: Following two judicial review claims, a High Court deputy judge says that two asylum families – one a married couple and their two children, the second a mother with two teenage sons – each placed in a single hotel room for more than three years, should have been moved to alternative accommodation within three months, as he describes their living situation as ‘extremely stressful’. (Guardian, 20 April 2026) 

20 April: The European Court of Justice rules that refused asylum seekers cannot be detained for deportation for longer than 18 months in total, and orders the release and compensation of up to €8,000 each to around 30 detainees held in the Netherlands for over 18 months as authorities tried to deport them. (Dutch News, 20 April 2026) 

23 April: Australian company Corporate Travel Management, which was contracted to run asylum housing and operated the Bibby Stockholm barge, decommissioned in November 2024, admits overcharging UK clients, including the government, by £118 million. (Eastern Eye, 23 April 2026)

27 April: The Greater Manchester Asylum Hotels Group, made up of people with experience of living in asylum hotels and other asylum accommodation, publishes its vision for how people should be housed while awaiting an asylum decision, with a focus on safety and dignity. (GMIAU, 27 April 2026)

Deportations

19 April: After lawyers and magistrates denounce as incompatible with constitutional independence and undermining effective judicial protection, a decree giving lawyers a €600 bonus for every client they persuade to accept voluntary repatriation, Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni amends the decree to include mediators in the incentive scheme. (ANSA, 25 April 2026; ECRE, 23 April 2026) 

23 April: A new ‘removal site’ is planned in Dunkirk, where UK-paid French officers will detain asylum seekers from ten countries (including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen) heading to the UK and deport them, either to their home countries or an EU transit country, a development refugee charities describe as shocking and disgraceful. (Guardian, 23 April 2026)    

Crimes of solidarity

24 April: A PICUM report on criminalisation of solidarity with migrants in the EU identifies 110 people prosecuted for helping people on the move in 2025, 19 of whom were in Italy, including six members of SAR group Mediterranea, who went on trial in October 2025 in regard to a 2020 maritime rescue. (ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 24 April 2026)

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.

20 April: The government announces that, under a new complaints system run by the Office for Students, universities in England that fail to protect free speech could face fines of £500,000 or 2 percent of their income, and in some cases risk losing public funding. (Guardian, 20 April 2026)

21 April: A joint investigation by Al Jazeera and Liberty Investigates finds that 12 British universities paid security firm Horus Security to monitor students’ and academics’ social media activity, including those who have expressed solidarity with Palestine, as part of counterterror threat assessments. (Middle East Eye, 21 April 2026)

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE

16 April: New government data highlights a previously unaccounted for population of nearly 6,000 children living in council-run temporary accommodation (in addition to the 6,400 already known), with 90 percent having lived there past the six-week legal limit and using ‘unsuitable’ shared bathrooms and kitchens. (Morning Star, 16 April 2026)

Damning new data reveals a hidden population of children living in temporary accommodationhttps://t.co/ppJGRFt7Lm

— Morning Star (@M_Star_Online) April 16, 2026

18 April: Thousands of people march through London in a national housing demonstration organised by Homes4All and the London Renters Union, and backed by over fifty tenants’ unions, trade unions and grassroots campaigns. Their demands include rent controls and investment in council housing. (Socialist Worker, 18 April 2026)

EMPLOYMENT| EXPLOITATION| INDUSTRIAL ACTION

For racism at work see also Racial violence and harassment 

27 April: United Voices of the World (UVW) signs a union recognition agreement with the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), which works to defend supporters of Palestine. The deal follows recent UVW recognition agreements across the NGO and charity sector, which the union says highlights increased interest in collective organising and raising standards in values-driven organisations. (Morning Star, 27 April 2026)

CULTURE| MEDIA| SPORT 

15 April: Kanye West postpones his planned concert in Marseille following reports that France’s interior minister is seeking to ban the event over his antisemitic remarks, a week after the UK bars him from entering the country and forces the cancellation of the Wireless Festival. (Euronews, 15 April 2026)

16 April: More than 100 writers quit historic French publishing house Grasset, accusing conservative billionaire owner Vincent Bolloré of using his vast media empire, which includes the country’s most-watched news channel CNews and publishing giant Hachette Livre, to push far-right ideas. (Guardian, 16 April 2026) 

23 April: Mulligans Irish pub in Manchester carries out an internal review after Travellers announce a protest against discrimination. Videos shared on social media appear to show staff refusing entry to a group of young men because they are from the Irish Traveller community. (Manchester Evening News, 23 April 2026)

23 April: An analysis by Full Fact finds that four videos shared on Facebook that appear to show large groups of Muslims praying in the middle of London streets are AI-generated fakes. (Full Fact, 23 April 2026)

 24 April: Westminster City Council apologises to Millwall FC after a racism awareness leaflet for schoolchildren features a cartoon KKK member wearing the club’s badge, referencing the racist abuse Paul Canoville received at Millwall during his time as Chelsea’s first Black player in the 1980s. (BBC News, 24 April 2026)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

15 April: Two people are arrested after an attempted arson attack at Finchley Reform synagogue in north London which is investigated as an antisemitic hate crime, with the suggestion that Iranian proxies are involved. (BBC News, 15 April 2026)

17 April: In Rouen, France, the organisation Ibuka France describes the desecration of a  memorial honouring victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda as a serious violation of dignity and collective memory. (New Times, 17 April 2026) 

19 April: An arson attack at Kenton United synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, causes minor smoke damage. Police state that a group called Ashab al-Yamim (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right) have claimed responsibility online for most of the recent attacks ‘linked to Jewish or Israeli interests’. (Guardian, 19 April 2026) 

20 April: In Austria, a petition is launched after the government cuts all funding for the anti-racist organisation ZARA, threatening its work supporting the victims of racial violence. (ZARA, 20 April 2026)

22 April: A man is arrested after entering the Abdullah Quilliam mosque in Liverpool making threats and shouting racist abuse. (Merseyside police, 22 April 2026)

24 April: A man is given a life sentence for the rape of a Sikh woman in Walsall in October 2025, where he beat her with a stick and subjected her to a tirade of Islamophobic abuse as he wrongly believed her to be a Muslim. The judge describes John Ashby as a ‘deeply unpleasant racist and Islamophobe’. (BBC News, 24 April 2026)

24 April: A survey by the TUC finds shocking increases of racism, bullying and unfair treatment in the workplace for Black and ethnic minority workers. (Morning Star, 24 April 2026

27 April: Safety Tracker data from the National Union of Journalists shows that journalists in the UK and Ireland increasingly face ‘shocking’ abuse, including racism and harassment, in online and physical attacks, restricting their ability to work. (NUJ, 27 April 2026)

27 April: The rail union TSSA publishes data from a reps’ violence at work survey that shows that violence against its members is ‘out of control’, with incidents of aggression from passengers and the public including racial abuse. Belly Mujinga, who was spat at by a passenger carrying Covid and later died after contracting the virus, is remembered. (TSAA, 27 April 2026) 

This calendar is researched by IRR staff and compiled by Sophie Chauhan, with the assistance of Graeme Atkinson, 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.