Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 21 January – 4 February 2025)

Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 21 January – 4 February 2025)

February 7 2025 News

Written by: IRR News Team


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. 

22 January: The Department for Work and Pensions presents to parliament a new fraud, error and debt bill which, among other things, would allow courts to suspend a person’s driving licence for unpaid debts and give the DWP powers to obtain bank statements from those with welfare debts. (Guardian, 22 January 2025) 

22 January: The prime minister announces a public inquiry into the official failings that led to the Southport atrocity, as it emerges that Axel Rudakubana was referred three times to the Prevent programme and was known to police as a violent schoolboy. (Guardian, 22 January 2025) 

24 January: As Downing Street rejects the Conservatives’ call for sentencing reforms to allow Axel Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, to be given a whole-life sentence, Reform UK MPs Rupert Lowe and Lee Anderson call for the return of the death penalty. (Guardian, 24 January 2025) 

28 January: The vice president of the far-right National Rally praises French prime minister Francois Bayrou for saying that the rejection of immigration is linked to a ‘feeling of flooding’, of ‘no longer recognising your own country, its lifestyle and its culture’. (France 24, 28 January 2025) 

29 January: After a non-binding motion by the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) calling for tougher border and asylum rules is passed with the backing of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), former CDU chancellor Angela Merkel chastises the party leader for breaking the 75-year consensus against making common cause with the far Right. (BBC News, 29 January 2025; Politico 30 January 2025). 

31 January: The German parliament votes down a bill to tighten immigration controls brought by CDU leader Friedrich Merz with the backing of the AfD, after the CDU-AfD alliance, condemned by former chancellor Angela Merkel, wins a non-binding vote two days prior. (Guardian, 1 February 2025; BBC, 30 January 2025)

31 January: A Runnymede Trust report finds that parliamentary and media debates from 2010 to 2024 encouraged widespread hostility to migrants, with the terms ‘illegal’ and ‘economic’ being commonly linked to migrants. (Guardian, 31 January 2025; EIN, 2 February 2025)

31 January: On the six-month anniversary of racist riots across England, over 60 racial justice, migrant rights and Muslim organisations write to the government urging action to address the root causes of racism and warning of the pitfalls of an uncritical ‘community cohesion’ agenda as the singular route to addressing the riots. (Runnymede Trust, 31 January 2025)

1 February: Belgian parties form a new five-party right-wing coalition government, led by the nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), but excluding the far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), which made the largest gains in the June 2024 elections. (Deutsche Welle, 1 February 2025)

2 February: At least 160,000 rally in Berlin and other German cities, including Leipzig, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich, to protest the move by the CDU to seek the support of the AfD to push through an anti-immigration bill less than a month before the federal election. (France24, 2 February 2025; Guardian, 2 February 2025)

2 February: A cross-party commission, facilitated by the Together Coalition and led by former Tory and Labour community secretaries Sajid Javid and John Denham, is formed with the stated aim to answer the ‘foundational questions of how we live well together’ after the Southport tragedy and subsequent riots. (Guardian, 2 February 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.

24 January: German authorities are investigating a projection on Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory depicting Elon Musk performing a Nazi-style salute alongside the phrase ‘Heil Tesla’. (DW, 24 January 2025) 

27 January: Hungarian police raid a secret neo-Nazi event near Budapest held in a warehouse rented under the guise of a film shoot by the Nordic Sun Cultural Foundation. Authorities disrupt the concert, fine the Foundation for fire safety violations, and initiate proceedings against the bar operator. (Telex, 27 January 2025)

28 January: The Children’s Commissioner says that distrust of police, lack of job opportunities and ‘curiosity about events’ motivated hundreds of ‘disempowered’ children in England to take part in the riots. Children were not primarily motivated by ‘far-right, anti-immigration or racist views’, or by online misinformation, she states (Guardian, 28 January 2025; Children’s Commissioner, 28 January 2025)

29 January: The Anglican Catholic Church revokes Calvin Robinson’s priest license after he is seen making a Nazi-style salute at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington DC. The Church stated that despite prior warnings against provocative online behaviour, Robinson’s continued actions were incompatible with his vocation. (Anglican, 29 January 2025; Guardian, 30 January 2025)

1 February: Tens of thousands mobilise against fascism in towns and cities across Germany. At an AfD campaign event in Frankfurt, demonstrators clash with police. In Göttingen, police first draw truncheons against demonstrators attempting to block an event organised by the Querdenker (lateral thinkers) before mounted police clear the streets. (Deutsche Welle, 1 February 2025)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 

22 January: 40 law experts call on the home secretary to launch an independent inquiry into the Met’s policing of the pro-Palestine demonstration in central London on 18 January 2025, describing it as ‘a disproportionate, unwarranted and dangerous assault’ on the right to protest, seemingly motivated by ‘political considerations’. (Guardian, 21 January 2025)

27 January: Ali Abunimah, executive director of the Electronic Intifada, is deported from Switzerland after spending two nights in jail following his arrest by plain clothes police who he says forced him into an unmarked car in Zurich. Two UN special rapporteurs condemn the circumstances of his arrest. (Electronic Intifada, 27 January 2025)

27 January: In the case of Panayotopoulos and Others v. Greece, the European Court of Human Rights awards three Romani men, who were brutally beaten and tortured during their arrest, transfer and detention in October 2016, a total of €52,240 in damages. (ERRC, 27 January 2025)

29 January: Four UN special rapporteurs warn the government about the misuse of counter-terrorism measures to target Palestine Action activists (the Filton 18), imposing  incommunicado detention and classifying them as high security prisoners with ‘restricted status’, meaning their mail correspondence is monitored and restricted. (Middle East Eye, 29 January 2025)

31 January: The IRR releases its interim research findings into charging and sentencing patterns in England following the Summer 2025 racist riots. One in five within its dataset (101 prosecutions) were individuals responding to the riots, including migrants and refugees, those who attended anti-racist mobilisations and/or defended community buildings, and Muslims who defended mosques. (IRR, 31 January 2025)

IRR statement on research findings on charging and sentencing patterns following the summer 2024 racist riots

3 February: Two people are wounded at the Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris, France, after railway police open fire on them. The first man, who is gravely injured, is reported to have been wielding a fake gun and spray-painting a swastika. The second person, a traveller, is injured by a ricochet. (Le Monde, 3 February 2025)

3 February: In Sweden, a Stockholm district court gives Salwan Najem, whose co-defendant was shot dead last week, a suspended sentence and fine for incitement against an ethnic group in relation to public burnings of the Quran in 2023. (Guardian, 3 February 2025) See also National Security and Anti-Terrorism

NATIONAL SECURITY AND COUNTER-TERRORISM

26 January: The home secretary announces that the Southport atrocity inquiry will review Prevent programme referral thresholds, particularly in relation to individuals ‘obsessed with school massacres’ and ‘Islamist extremism’. Where ‘individuals are suspected to be neurodiverse, interventions should not stop because they are awaiting assessments, ignoring any risks they might pose’, she says. (Guardian, 26 January 2025)

28 January: The home secretary rejects internal Home Office advice to widen the definition of extremism to include those motivated by violent misogyny or conspiracy theories. (Guardian, 28 January 2025)

30 January: Sweden raises its national security alert after Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam activist Salwan Momika is shot dead near Stockholm hours before he was due to stand trial for burning the Quran. As five people are arrested, the Swedish prime minister says that the shooting could be linked to a foreign power. (Al Jazeera, 30 January 2025) 

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights

22 January: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, chancellor Rachel Reeves announces a review of high skilled visas, particularly for highly-skilled workers in the areas of AI and life sciences. (Guardian, 22 January 2025)

23 January:  A report by Asylum Aid, Jesuit Refugee Service UK, The University of Liverpool Law Clinic, the European Network on Statelessness, and JustRight Scotland describes the cruel and destructive situation facing stateless people in the UK, critiquing the statelessness determination process. (EIN, 23 January 2025)

27 January: A report by Women of Zimbabwe and Action for Southern Africa shows that over 2,000 single mothers who came to the UK on health and care worker visas were denied visas for their children, despite arriving before changes to immigration rules in March 2024, because of ‘systemic discrimination under the Home Office’s “sole responsibility” rule.’ (EIN, 27 January 2025)

27 January: A vigil organised by Southall Black Sisters is held in Ilford in honour of Harshita Brella, a migrant victim of domestic abuse, and highlighting the systemic failures in protecting Black, minority, and migrant women. Executive director Selma Taha calls for increased rights, including extending the rules for indefinite leave to remain as a victim of domestic abuse to cover all victims. (Eastern Eye, 27 January 2025)

28 January: Stuart Andrew, Conservative MP for Daventry, writes to residents in Crick, Northamptonshire, expressing his anger over plans to house asylum seekers in a hotel in the constituency. (BBC News, 28 January 2025)

30 January: The home secretary introduces the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which would create new offences such as ‘endangering another life at sea’, which risks criminalising asylum seekers, including parents who have taken their children. The bill includes counter-terror style powers, affording Border Force officers powers to seize phones and laptops from migrants at the border. Labour MPs criticise the continued disqualification of people who arrive in ‘small boats’ from claiming protection from modern slavery via the national referral mechanism. (inews, 30 January 2025; EIN, 30 January 2025) 

3 February: Campaigners call for automated visa extensions for Ukrainian refugees, as the Home Office process spanning 4 February to June leaves an eight-week gap in which they will be unable to prove their immigration status, leaving many unable to renew tenancy agreements or prove their right to work. (Guardian, 3 February 2025) 

Borders and internal controls

21 January: The EU ratifies an agreement with Serbia allowing Frontex to deploy personnel across the whole Serbian territory, including its borders with non-EU countries. The EU already has agreements with North Macedonia and Montenegro, and the EU Council has adopted a decision for a similar agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Polskie Radio, 22 January 2025; Sarajevo Times, 27 January 2025)

22 January: The El Hiblu three lose their appeal against a lower court’s refusal to dismiss terrorism charges in relation to an oil tanker hijacking in March 2019. The appeal court rules that a jury must decide on the men’s argument that the Maltese court had no jurisdiction since it happened outside Maltese waters. (Times of Malta, 22 January 2025) 

26 January: Changes to the Ukrainian sponsorship scheme disallow parents in the UK from obtaining a visa for their children, forcing parents to resort to irregular routes to family reunification as, after arrival, the Home Office either refuses their visa applications or they face lengthy delays. (Independent, 26 January 2025)

29 January: The EU signs a €3 billion agreement with Jordan to strengthen cooperation on border management, reception and returns. (ECRE weekly bulletin, 30 January 2025)

 29 January: Tunisian authorities are accused of selling migrants to armed groups in the ‘kidnapping industry’ in Libya in a new report. (Middle East Eye, 3 February 2025)

Reception and detention

21 January: NGOs criticise the Home Office’s failure to put in place effective safeguarding and risk assessment policies in statutory Home Office accommodation, as 20 assaults are reported, including a knife attack in Essex. (Guardian, 20 January 2025)

25 January: Britain First and activists visit a Home Office hotel in Altrincham, confronting security staff and asylum seekers, filming and harassing staff and residents for social media, and canvassing the local area with flyers opposed to the hotel residents. (Independent, 25 January 2025)

Deportations

 31 January: The Italian appeal court refuses to approve the speedy expulsion of 43 asylum seekers held in Albania, and refers the case to the European Court of Justice, which is already dealing with other cases on the same issue, forcing the Italian navy to bring asylum seekers back to Italy for the third time. (LBC, 2 February 2025)

2 February: A 61-year-old victim of the Windrush scandal, Samuel Jarrett-Coker, who has lived in the UK since childhood, reports fearing deportation and homelessness and facing constant challenges accessing social benefits and other essential services, as the Home Office fails to resolve his immigration status despite requests going back to the 1980s. (Observer, 2 February 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.

26 January: The prime minister pledges to make Holocaust education a ‘national endeavour’ taught by all schools. A Claims Conference survey across seven countries in Europe (and the US) shows denial and lack of knowledge about the Holocaust, with a third of young adults in the UK unable to name Auschwitz or any other Nazi concentration camps. (Guardian, 26 January 2025)

30 January: The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) announces changes in the language used in geography, history and classical studies in response to teacher and learner concerns around ‘outdated views of enslavement, colonialism and race’. (TES, 30 January 2025)

31 January: Analysis by FFT Education Datalab into the effect of ‘fair-banding’ in secondary school admissions finds that schools placing students into ability bands for admissions tend to ‘have more academically able cohorts than neighbouring schools that do not use fair banding.’ (TES, 31 January 2025)

3 February: French educational authorities end contracts with the Al Kindi private Muslim school in Lyon, removing all public subsidies, accusing it of ‘proximity with the thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood’ and being ‘contrary to the values of the Republic’. (Middle East Eye, 3 February 2025)

3 February: Germany’s largest educational unions, GEW and VBE, condemn the presence of the far-right Alternative for Germany party at the didacta education fair, arguing that it contradicts the event’s theme of ‘Education for Democracy.’ (DW, 3 February 2025)

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE

29 January: The Joseph Rowntree annual poverty report shows ‘very high’ rates of poverty for children in some minority ethnic groups. 67 per cent of children in Bangladeshi households, 61 per cent in Pakistani and 50 per cent of children in households headed by people of Black African backgrounds were in poverty, compared to 24 per cent of children in white households. (Morning Star, 29 January 2025; JRF, 29 January 2025)

EMPLOYMENT| EXPLOITATION| INDUSTRIAL ACTION

24 January: Prior to an employment tribunal, migrant farm workers on the seasonal worker scheme, supported by the Landworkers’ Alliance and Unite, protest outside the Home Office demanding accountability, fair wages, safer working conditions, recognition of modern slavery status and access to justice. (Observer, 26 January 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.

 28 January: After the Charity Commission opens a statutory inquiry into emergency relief charity the We Care Foundation, UK Lawyers for Israel alleges that the foundation is supporting an organisation that provides relief in Gaza and is labelled ‘terrorist’ by Israel. In response, the foundation asks whether ‘providing food to starving women and children’ is evidence of ‘wrongdoing’. (Civil Society, 28 January 2025)

30 January: The Football Association launches its first strategy to support South Asians in English football, aiming to tackle exclusion and overt racism in the sport. Titled ‘Build, Connect, Support,’ the plan focuses on improving cultural and religious sensitivity, increasing representation, and creating a more welcoming grassroots environment. (Guardian, 30 January 2025)

31 January: In Italy, Francesco Cancellato, editor-in-chief of investigative news outlet Fanpage, is targeted by Israeli-made spyware after publishing an exposé on fascist elements within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party. WhatsApp notified him that he is among 90 journalists and other members of civil society attacked by spyware from Israel-based Paragon Solutions, which delivers malware through group chats. While the extent of the surveillance remains unclear, Cancellato describes it as a violation. (Guardian, 31 January 2025)

2 February: Amnesty International criticises the Channel 4 immigration series ‘Go Back to Where You Came From’ for platforming those with extreme racist views. A spokesperson for Channel 4 says unless we air  a range of ‘strong views’ on immigration, people will vent them online, leading to ‘combustible events like last summer’s race riots’. (Guardian, 2 February 2025)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

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

3 February: Data released by the German interior ministry reveals an increase in attacks on asylum-seeker accommodation in 2024 (218 attacks in all, with 14 injured, including a child). 1095 attacks on migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in other settings are also noted, showing a slight decrease, though not all police forces have filed statistics. (Info Migrants, 3 February 2025)

3 February: In Germany, according to the Muslim Coordination Council, numerous bomb threats and damage of mosques over the past few weeks should, in part, be attributed to the ‘increasingly populist debate regarding migration’. (Info Migrants, 3 February 2025)

4 February: Barbijaputa, a Spanish writer, stands trial at Madrid’s Provincial Court over resurfaced 2011 tweets about Hitler and the Holocaust, facing hate crime charges which she claims stem from a far-right smear campaign. She argues that many of the posts were manipulated or fabricated to falsely depict her as a Nazi, while the prosecution maintains they incite hatred. (El Pais, 4 February 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 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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