Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 17 – 31 March 2026)

Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 17 – 31 March 2026)

April 2 2026 News

Written by: IRR News Team


ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY

19 March: After the sixth annual celebration in Trafalgar Square organised by the Ramadan Tent Project and attended by the London mayor, Reform’s leader calls for a ban on public prayer for Muslims in the UK. Farage describes the prayers as ‘an attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life’. Muslim leaders warn of a ‘growing tide of hate’. (Guardian, 19 March 2026)

19 March: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch backs her shadow justice secretary after he says that Islamic prayers in public places are intimidating, un-British and an ‘act of domination’ ‘straight from the Islamist playbook’. Calling in the Daily Telegraph for a ban, Nick Timothy says that such expressions of a non-Christian faith was a call for replacement. (Guardian, 19 March 2026)

19 March: Kent Council opposition councillors stage a mass walkout after the Reform-controlled council tables a motion declaring an ‘illegal immigration emergency’ whilst blaming migrants for the spread of ‘infectious diseases’ – a move seen as divisive in light of the deadly meningitis outbreak in the county. (Byline Times, 19 March 2026)

20 March: Reform UK candidate for Fife North East, Linda Holt, faces criticism for past  Islamophobic comments on social media. It also emerges that Galloway and West Dumfries candidate Senga Beresford endorsed social media posts by Tommy Robinson and Britain First, including tweets calling for mass deportations and a ban on burqas. (Guardian, 20 March 2026)

21 March: Walsall council says its proposal to erect permanent flagpoles at Brownhills Miner Island, the site of a massive unauthorised Union Jack display, including on the 40ft Minder Status, is an attempt to end a divisive debate and strike the right balance between patriotism and safety through ‘managed display’. (Yahoo News, 21 March 2026)

22 March: Conservative party chief whip Rebecca Harris faces criticism after she reposts AI-generated footage video created by Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes and now claims to be a member of the Conservative party. (Guardian, 22 March 2026)

22 March: In the second-round of French municipal elections, the far-right Rassemblement National make big gains in small towns. Having come first in at least 75 towns (up from 11 six years ago), its candidates suffer defeats in large cities such as Marseilles and Toulon, though its ally Éric Ciotti secures Nice with around 47.7 per cent of the vote. (Searchlight, 29 March 2026) 

22 March: As Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch defends shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy’s characterisation of Muslim public prayers (part of the open Iftaar event at Trafalgar Square) as ‘an act of domination’, shadow communities secretary James Cleverly disagrees and London Assembly’s Conservative deputy leader says that public prayer is a fundamental right of every citizen. (Guardian, 22 March 2026) 

23 March: Following the arson attack on four Jewish community ambulances in north London [see racial violence section], Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch visits a Jewish volunteer ambulance service in Stamford Hill and suggests that tougher immigration controls targeting people entering the UK from ‘cultures where there is a history of hatred against Jews’ could be a way of tackling antisemitism. (Independent, 24 March 2026)

25 March: The far-right Danish People’s Party (DF) triples its support in a snap general election. (Copenhagen Post, 25 March 2026)

27 March: After an investigation by Greater Manchester Police finds no evidence of ‘family voting’ or voter coercion at the Gorton and Denton by-election, Nigel Farage condemns an ‘establishment whitewash’. (BBC, 27 March 2026)

27 March: Welsh Senedd election Reform candidate Corey Edwards steps down, on grounds of mental health, after a photo of him appearing to give a Nazi salute as an imitation of Adolf Hitler is published on the Nation Cymru website. (Guardian, 27 March 2026) 

28 March: In Italy, a referendum initiated by the far-right government to overhaul the judiciary, which would have necessitated amendments to the post-fascist constitution, is defeated with 54 per cent of voters saying no on a high turnout. (Guardian, 28 March 2026)

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

19 March: West Mercia police open an investigation into the Facebook group of Worcester Patriots over a post which includes a fake letter claiming to be from Worcestershire County Council and stating that the Council had approved money to install ‘British flagpoles and flags at selected roundabouts’. (BBC, 19 March 2026)

21 March: Anti-fascists mobilise to protest a UKIP rally held on Eid outside the South Lakes Islamic Centre (SLIC) in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, where UKIP leader Nick Tenconi called for the deportation of supporters of SLIC. Christian leaders say they are ‘especially saddened to see Christianity distorted into a justification for anti-Muslim rhetoric’. (Mail, 21 March 2026)

21 March: Counter-protesters mobilise in force to oppose a UKIP ‘march for Jesus’ in Liverpool. Catholic and Anglican dioceses are amongst those condemning UKIP’s divisive ideology. (Counterfire, 22 March 2026)

21 March: Counter protesters mobilise along the Royal Mile against an anti-immigration ‘Unite the Clans Scotland’ protest at Holyrood. (BBC, 21 March 2026)

24 March: A cherry-picker van with ‘highway maintenance’ written on the back is used to affix St George’s flags to lamp posts on Abingdon Road, Oxford, whilst Ryan Bridge, one of the co-founders of the ‘Raising the Colours’ campaign, live-streams confrontations with passersby to social media. (Oxford Clarion, 26 March 2026, Oxford Mail, 27 March 2026, The Herald Series, 30 March 2026)

28 March: Tens of thousands march in central London with the Together Alliance, bringing together trades unions, migrants’ rights and racial justice groups, charities, student and religious groups, against the far Right. (Guardian, 28 March 2026; BBC, 28 March 2026)

30 March: Oxford County Council issues Raise the Colours Oxfordshire with a formal legal notice for its continued placing of flags without consent after the repeated installation of flags on or near highways. (The Herald Series, 30 March 2026)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 

17 March: A jury at Bristol Crown Court find Kwabena Devonish, who expressed support for a Palestinian rally in Cardiff and refused to condemn Hamas, not guilty of showing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. (BBC, 17 March 2026) 

19 March: A Metropolitan police officer who said ‘Muslims are taking over’ and that the London mayor ‘has links to terrorism’ is dismissed from the force after a gross misconduct hearing. (Standard, 19 March 2026) 

20 March: The Information Commissioner’s Office reveals that Essex police paused the use of live facial recognition technology after a study it commissioned found that cameras were significantly more likely to target Black people than people of other ethnicities. (Guardian, 20 March 2026)

20 March: In what the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign describe as a ‘landmark’ decision, Jeff Hamilton, charged with terrorism after allegedly showing support for Palestine Action, has his case thrown out by prosecutors. (The National, 20 March 2026)

20 March: The Howard League for Penal Reform urges a proper investigation into the use of force in women’s prisons in England and Wales, including the use of handcuffs and being held down, which has more than doubled in three years, from 3,268 incidents in 2021/22 to nearly 7,000 in 2024/25. (Open Democracy, 20 March 2026)

22 March: The municipality of Heerlen, in the Netherlands, is using €5 million in EU funding to create the world’s first ‘digital twin’ for predictive policing, an AI-supported, continuously updated digital replica designed to predict crime and public order disturbances. Amnesty International points out that the use of algorithms in policing carries a high risk of ethnic profiling. (Matthias Monroy via Statewatch, 22 March 2026) 

23 March: Home Office use of force data shows that in the year ending 31 March 2025, police forces deployed dogs against Black people 2.7 times more often than white people and that Black people were bitten 3.5 times more often. (Voice, 23 March 2026)

24 March: Following the arson attack on four Jewish community ambulances in north London [see racial violence section], the Met says it will deploy 264 officers and specialist teams – including firearms, the mounted branch and drones – to boost security for Jewish communities in the run-up to Passover next month. (Independent, 24 March 2026)

28 March: Police arrest eighteen protesters holding placards saying ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’ outside New Scotland Yard, London, two days after announcing a resumption of arrests despite the High Court ruling in February that the ban on Palestine Action is illegal. (BBC, 28 March 2026) 

31  March: Following pressure from Declassified UK, the Met suspend an off-duty volunteer special constable who was part of a group filmed intimidating Al Jazeera journalists reporting on the Golders Green ambulance arson attack,  shouting ‘Al Jazeera off our streets’, ‘go home’ and ‘terrorist’.  The off duty special constable also called a Palestinian journalist a ‘dog’ and a ‘donkey’ in Arabic and told him to back to Qatar. (The National, 31 March 2026, Al Jazeera, 27 March 2026)

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights 

18 March: A report by the National Audit Office finds that 29,655 Afghans are still waiting to hear if they can come to the UK following their applications under British resettlement programmes, established following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and despite the schemes being closed to new applicants in July 2025. (Morning Star, 18 March 2026)

18 March: The Home Office publishes new immigration and nationality fees from 8 April, including a rise in the fee for a settlement application to £3,226 per person and for a passport to £102. (Free Movement, 18 March 2026)

18 March: Marking the tenth anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal, rights groups Pro Asyl and Refugee Support Aegean say it has fuelled suffering, trapping thousands in poor conditions on the Greek islands, encouraged policies undermining asylum rights and became a model for ‘offshoring’ asylum responsibilities. (Turkish Minute, 18 March 2026)

25 March: The Home Office opens a public consultation on its asylum appeal proposals, which involves a single tier system with no onward appeal; accelerated appeals for offenders and detainees; paper-based or remote hearings in most cases; and non-legal adjudicators such as ex-police officers, councillors and social workers. The consultation runs until 22 April. (Free Movement, 25 March 2026) 

26 March: Following a High Court challenge, the immigration permission to work policy is amended, allowing those waiting over 12 months for an asylum decision to work as doctors, nurses, or in other skilled occupations. (Guardian, 26 March 2026)

27 March: Research by Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) into the government’s ‘reforms’ to asylum policy – including halving the duration of refugee visas to 30 months, payment schemes for ‘voluntary’ return, restrictions on asylum support and multiplying settlement thresholds – finds that they risk deepening destitution and insecurity, harming refugees, undermining integration and eroding social cohesion. (Open Democracy, 27 March 2026)

Borders and internal controls

17 March: As the IOM says that 682 people are confirmed to have died in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, rights groups report the real death toll as much higher, as authorities in Italy, Malta and Tunisia refuse to publicise information on shipwrecks. IOM has a list of over 400 missing since the start of the year, which the lack of transparency prevents them from verifying. (AP, 17 March 2026)

20 March: Former police chief Martin Hewitt resigns his post as Border Security Command after 18 months in the job, which was created by Keir Starmer to ‘smash the gangs’ providing transport to the UK for people on the move. (BBC, 20 March 2026)

23 March: A report by Frontex’ human rights officer alleges that the Greek authorities deployed and supervised Afghan paramilitaries who beat, robbed and stabbed a group of 61 newly arrived migrants, mostly Turkish, in June 2023 near the Turkish border. (EU Observer, 23 March 2026)

24 March: Fabricio Leggeri, former head of Frontex and now an MEP for France’s far-right Rassemblement National, is to be judicially investigated for complicity in crimes against humanity following a ruling by the Paris appeal court that sufficient grounds exist to investigate a criminal complaint lodged by the League of Human Rights in 2024. (Le Monde, 24 March 2026)

26 March: A report by the ESRC Centre for Sociological Futures at the University of Bristol and Border Forensics concludes that UK and French border policing policies aimed at ‘stopping the boats’ led to a sharp increase in deaths since 2023, with 112 people confirmed dead or missing between the end of 2023 and the end of 2025 and 76 deaths recorded in 2024 alone, more than all the combined years since 2019. (EIN, 26 March 2026)

27 March: As 26 people are rescued from a rubber dinghy off the coast of Crete, they say 22 more died of hunger and thirst off the coast of Greece after spending six days at sea with no food or water, and their bodies were thrown overboard in accordance with smugglers’ instructions. (Reuters, 28 March 2026)

31 March: A three-year deal whereby the UK pays two-thirds of the cost of interceptions of migrants on the French coast, due to expire today, is extended for two months at a cost of £16.6m as renewal negotiations stall on the UK government’s insistence on more forceful interventions, with French officials and ministers saying this would endanger the lives of migrants, smugglers and police. (Guardian, 30 March 2026; The i paper, 1 April 2026)

Reception and detention

27 March: Statistics reveal that over 200 municipalities in Hungary have brought in local restrictions on residency, including proficiency in the Hungarian language, under the Law for the Protection of Local Identity brought in last July. (InfoMigrants, 27 March 2026)

Deportations

16 March: The NUJ pays tribute to longtime anti-deportation campaigner John O, who died in February. He was central to the founding of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (now Right to Remain) and helped to build a national movement against detention and deportation. (NUJ, 16 March 2026)

20 March: The UK signs a new agreement with Nigeria to speed up deportations and to share intelligence and carry out joint operations to tackle immigration crime. (Africa News, 20 March 2026)

23 March: The EU signs a returns and readmissions agreement with Nigeria which gives the country better access to EU markets and EU investment in energy and transport infrastructure in exchange for cooperation on migration control. (EU Observer, 23 March 2026)

26 March: Over 1,000 healthcare professionals from across Europe sign an open letter to the European Parliament before a vote on new EU returns regulations, saying they refuse to be part of the EU’s enforcement mechanism and will not report undocumented migrants, citing the traumatic effects of enforcement, particularly on children. The proposed regulation has been condemned by 75 rights organisations and 16 UN experts have expressed concerns that they breach international human rights obligations. (Guardian, 26 March 2026) 

Crimes of solidarity

16 March: In a case with parallels to previous criminal processes against rights defenders which last for years and end in acquittals, Tommy Olsen, Norwegian founder of the NGO Aegean Boat Report, is arrested at his home on an international warrant issued by the Greek authorities on charges of espionage, human smuggling and membership of a criminal organisation. His extradition to Greece is approved by the Tromsø court. (Greek City Times, 16 March 2026)

18 March: In rough seas, German NGO Sea-Watch’s search and rescue vessel Sea-Watch 5 defies an Italian order to take exhausted refugees, many sick, 680 miles to Tuscany after rescuing them near Lampedusa, but declares a ‘state of necessity’ and disembarks 57 people at Trapani, Sicily, instead. (Courthouse News, 18 March 2026)

20 March: EU partner Tunisia sentences migrant rights advocate Saadia Mosbah, leader of anti-racist group Mnèmty, to eight years’ imprisonment and a £26,000 fine on accusations of money laundering and illegal enrichment, which rights groups said formed ‘part of a broader pattern of intensifying repression of civil society’, including cases against rights defenders, media smear campaigns and new restrictions on NGOs working on migration issues. (BBC, 20 March 2026)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION 

17 March: A Belgian court rules that a criminal trial can go ahead against the last surviving official allegedly involved in the 1961 killing of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first elected prime minister following independence. The family filed a criminal case in 2011 against eleven officials alleging war crimes; ten have since died. (Human Rights Watch, 18 March 2026)

EDUCATION 

20 March: An Index on Censorship investigation reveals that the Lowry Academy, Greater Manchester, removed from the school library over 130 books that management deemed ‘inappropriate’ for children, dealing with race, discrimination, gender, sexuality and mental health, and disciplined the school librarian on ‘breach of safeguarding’ allegations. (Index on Censorship, 20 March 2026)

23 March: Six students from Sudan and Afghanistan with confirmed places to study for Masters’ degrees at British universities launch a legal challenge to the home secretary’s ban on student visas for their nationals which comes into force on 26 March, arguing on grounds of race discrimination and violation of rights. (Guardian, 23 March 2026)

24 March: The top 500 secondary schools in England take a lower proportion of children eligible for Free School Meals and SEN support than live in the catchment area, The Sutton Trust finds. (The Sutton Trust, 24 March 2026)

24 March: Graduates who grow up in deep poverty will earn 5 per cent less than a more privileged peer working at the same firm with an equivalent degree a decade after graduation, highlighting the scarring effect of childhood poverty, according to new research by the Resolution Foundation. (The Resolution Foundation, 24 March 2026)

25 March: Research by the Transnational Institute reveals the extent of universities’ role in the development, expansion and legitimation of EU border controls, with over 200 universities participating in 110 EU Framework Programme projects on border security and receiving over €100 million in EU funding since 2002. (TNI via Statewatch, 25 March 2026)

26 March: DfE data reveal a large increase in the percentage of school-age children who miss more than half of school days, while almost a fifth of the country’s children miss ten per cent or more. (BBC, 26 March 2026; Observer, 29 March 2026)

30 March: The NEU puts forward a motion at its annual conference calling for the union to mount a stronger opposition to far-right extremism and to campaign for a ‘funded diversity and inclusion specialist’ in every school. (Schools Weekly, 30 March 2026)

31 March: More than half of 10,578 teachers polled by the NEU report that social media content is influencing racist (52 per cent) and misogynistic behaviour (56 per cent) in their schools. (Morning Star, 31 March 2026)

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE 

20 March: Research commissioned by the NRPF Partnership and carried out by IPPR and Landman Economics finds that 90,000 children with parents on skilled worker visas will be locked into poverty if the threshold period for settled status is increased to ten years. (Praxis, 20 March 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. 

22 March: At an employment tribunal, five journalists of Arab origin accuse the BBC of discrimination and of unfairly dismissing four of them for refusing what they described as racist and discriminatory practices within the BBC, also alleging that the BBC ‘misled’ its audience during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and imposed restrictions on journalists. (Middle East Monitor, 22 March 2026)

27 March: Dr Bharat Pankhania, who is suspended from the Liberal Democrat party, apologises for reposting content on X which called the burning of four ambulances run by a Jewish charity in north London an ‘Israeli false flag operation’. (BBC, 27 March 2026)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

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

18 March: A man from Widnes, Cheshire, who pleaded guilty to a violent racially aggravated assault on a taxi driver from Palestine, to whom he said ‘go back to your own country’ and ‘you have come here to make money and kill people’, is given an 18- week suspended sentence. His lawyers claim that he was ‘extremely remorseful’ and that his actions were influenced by ‘views regarding Hamas’. (PHTM News, 18 March 2026)

20 March: Islamophobic graffiti is sprayed near Muslim graves in Streetly Cemetery in Sutton Coldfield, Walsall. (Birmingham Live, 21 March 2026)

21 March: Reporthate.scot is launched by Ameer Din, who says that a recent incident in Govanhill where young Black female secondary students were racially abused at a bus stop and told to go home inspired him to take action as too many hate crimes go unreported. (Glasgow Live, 21 March 2026) 

23 March: Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola Northwest are set on fire in Golders Green, north London, in an attack which they police are investigating as antisemitic. Although counter terrorism police investigate the attack, it is not declared a terrorist incident. (Guardian, 24 March 2026)

23 March: Qurans are thrown on the floor during acts of vandalism and theft at the Elaf Mosque in Cheadle Heath, Stockport. Over the past 12 months, there have been several attacks on the mosque. (BBC, 23 March 2026)

24 March: Security officials investigate an online claim from an Iran-linked group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia that it carried out the arson attack on ambulances in Golders Green, justifying it on the grounds that the Machzike Hadath synagogue is ‘one of the main bastions of support for Israel in Britain’. The group has claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the Netherlands and Belgium. (Guardian, 24 March 2026)

25 March: Counter-terrorism police make three more arrests in connection with an arson attack in November 2025 on the Peacehaven mosque in East Sussex. (BBC, 25 March 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. 

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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.