A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Find these stories and all others since 2014 on our searchable database, the Register of Racism and Resistance.

ASYLUM | MIGRATION | BORDERS | CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights 

23 November: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules that member states are not legally obliged to give protection to parents of recognised child refugees. But it rules that wherever possible, the family unit should be preserved, even if through other means such as granting residence permits to parents. (Info Migrants, 24 November 2023)

24 November: As it is revealed that the Home Office has wrongfully cancelled thousands of asylum claims without claimants’ consent through a process called ‘implicit withdrawal,’ as it seeks to clear the backlog of 92,000 legacy claims, leaving asylum seekers without accommodation and support, it admits it does not know the whereabouts of 17,000 people whose claims have been withdrawn. (inews, 24 November 2023, Guardian, 29 November 2023)

3 December: Pregnant Afghan women promised resettlement in the UK and stuck in Pakistan for two years say their babies will die for lack of medical care, as previous children have, unless they are quickly brought to the UK. They also fear deportation to Afghanistan in a new crackdown. (Observer, 3 December 2023)

4 December: Home secretary James Cleverly announces a package of measures to cut migration, including raising the salary threshold for work visas to £38,700, abolishing the 20% lower income threshold for ‘shortage occupations’, banning the entry of family members of care workers and doubling the minimum income required by UK sponsors to bring families. (Guardian, 4 December 2023)

Borders and internal controls 

22 November: Two people drown and 58 are rescued, many suffering from hypothermia, following the capsizing of a dinghy boarded in haste near Boulogne-sur-Mer by a group of 60 who were under attack by French police with tear gas. (Guardian, 22 November 2023)

24 November: As a vigil is held in Folkestone to mark the second anniversary of the drowning of at least 27 people in one incident in the Channel, relatives of the dead issue a letter demanding answers over why the English and French authorities failed to respond to repeated SOS calls from the sinking dinghy, and calling for safe routes and better resettlement and family reunion schemes. (Guardian, 24 November 2023, Kent Live, 26 November 2023)

25 November: Home Office figures reveal that the number of EU nationals refused entry since Brexit has risen fivefold, with Romanians having the highest refusal rate. Discretion granted to border force officials to deny entry is being harshly applied as people are locked up or expelled. (Guardian, 25 November 2023)

27 November: As a Scottish MP raises concern in parliament over the two deaths in the Channel last week and the lack of safe and legal routes, the immigration minister responds that asylum seekers who cross the Channel to reach the UK are ‘breaking into our country’. (National, 27 November 2023)

28 November: The Finnish government announces a temporary closure of its entire border with Russia amid claims that Russia is using migration as a tool to put pressure on its neighbours, by helping asylum seekers to reach the borders. (Guardian, 28 November 2023)

28 November: A man is found dead close to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia after being exposed to freezing temperatures. He was part of a group of ten migrants found on the outskirts of the city, two of whom are taken to hospital as the remaining seven are taken to migrant centres. (Info Migrants, 28 November 2023)

29 November: The pre-trial hearings for the El Hiblu 3 (three teenagers charged with numerous crimes including terrorism and hijacking a ship for their attempts to stop their illegal return to Libya) end, with Malta’s attorney general deciding to indict all three. (Amnesty International, 30 November 2023)

Reception and detention 

21 November: Home secretary James Cleverly says he hopes to close the Wethersfield immigration accommodation centre, located in his constituency, ‘as soon as he can’. (Guardian, 21 November 2023) 

22 November: Following a special report by the Liverpool Echo about the increasing number of new refugees facing street homelessness, doctors write to Liverpool City Council to raise concerns about effects on health and demand a ‘practical and humane response’. (Liverpool Echo, 22 November 2023)

23 November: The number of street-homeless refugees in London rises 800% in 2 months, as the time between receiving refugee status and the removal of Home Office support and accommodation is drastically cut. Between August and October 2023 1,500 refugees were assessed as homeless, compared with 450 in the same period in 2022. (Big Issue, 23 November 2023, Sky News, 23 November 2023)

23 November: A fire breaks out at an uninhabited refugee shelter under construction in Bavaria, Germany. As the facility is not yet connected to the power grid, police suspect arson. (Info Migrants, 27 November 2023)

24 November: The Home Office confirms it is moving contractors from the Manston short-term holding site to the Heathrow immigration removal centre to cover significant staff shortages, as plans for a new detention centre at Manston are confirmed. (Guardian, 24 November 2023)

27 November: FOI requests from the Scottish Refugee Council reveal serious incidents of self-harm or suicide attempt almost daily on average over the last six years across Brook House, Tinsley House, Heathrow and Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centres, with 1,743 self-harm and suicide attempts requiring medical treatment at the four sites between January 2018 and 30 September 2023. (Guardian, 27 November 2023)

27 November: The Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership says temporary alternative accommodation using ‘rest centres’ is needed, as Glasgow Council seeks large properties to use as ‘first stop’ accommodation for new refugees, who increasingly face homelessness. (Herald, 27 November 2023)

27 November: Protesters gather outside Campsfield immigration removal centre to oppose plans to re-open the centre and house 400 male asylum seekers liable for deportation. (BBC, 27 November 2023)

Heartfelt thanks to the 50+ people who demonstrated at the weekend & the 1000+ people who have signed the petition so far. Thanks for your kind messages too.

Momentum is building to #KeepCampsfieldClosed as more people recognise that immigration detention is not the answer. 🧡✊ pic.twitter.com/Al3waqEbP6

— Keep Campsfield Closed 🧡 (@CloseCampsfield) November 27, 2023

28 November: A fire breaks out at a former hotel building being squatted by refugees on in Brussels, Belgium. Three people are taken to hospital and three more are treated on site. The cause of the fire is unclear and no plan to house those affected has been announced. (Brussels Times, 28 November 2023)

29 November: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finds Italy guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of four migrant children, held for nearly four months in the overcrowded adult hosting centre (1,419 people in a centre built to house 400) in Taranto, Puglia in 2017, despite declaring that they were minors. Italian authorities are ordered to pay €6,500 in compensation to each plaintiff for moral damages and €4,000 for legal expenses. (Info Migrants, 1 December 2023)

Deportations

23 November: An Afghan intelligence analyst who played a key role with the British military in Kabul, and who arrived on a small boat after waiting in vain for official resettlement, is threatened for the second time with deportation to Rwanda, as the Home Office claims he was sent an asylum questionnaire in error and stops progressing his claim. (Independent, 23 November 2023) 

5 December: Home secretary James Cleverly signs a new deportation agreement with Rwanda, after the Home Affairs Committee accuses ministers of deliberately hiding the soaring costs of the Rwanda deportation scheme from the public and evading parliamentary scrutiny. (Guardian, 3 December 2023, Guardian, 5 December 2023)

Only a few weeks ago the Rwanda plan was found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.

Not only is it unlawful, its immoral.

This government is addicted to cruelty and even this new bill is not compliant with human rights.

We must continue to come together to fight this. https://t.co/7F943lfBCf

— JCWI (@JCWI_UK) December 6, 2023

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 November: Tory chairperson Lee Anderson calls for those arriving in the UK by small boats to be sent to the Orkney Islands, as the prime minister rejects Home Office plans to send them to the Falkland Islands. (Independent, 22 November 2023)

22 November: The Dutch far-right Party of Freedom (PVV), which pledged to ban mosques, the Qur’an and the wearing of Islamic headscarves in government buildings, wins 37 of 150 seats in the general election, making it the largest party and meaning that its leader, Geert Wilders, will be the next prime minister. (Guardian, 23 November 2023)

24 November: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) warns that Italy’s proposed new security decree, directed against Romani women accused of theft, allows for the detention of mothers with children under the age of three, and for the detainees’ children to be placed in a ‘more suitable family’. (ERRC, 24 November 2023)

24 November: In the build-up to Portugal’s March election, members of the far Right from across Europe, including Marine Le Pen, gather to support Andre Ventura, the leader of Portugal’s far-right party Chega. (Reuters, 24 November 2023)

26 November: Immigration minister Robert Jenrick and former prime minister Boris Johnson join a 60,000-strong London demonstration against antisemitism, whose organisers claim that pro-Palestinian demonstrations ‘glorify terrorism’, ‘incite racism against Jews’ and have made the capital a ‘no-go zone for Jews’.  Na’amod, part of the Jewish bloc at Palestine solidarity demonstrations, state that showing solidarity with Jews facing antisemitism does not include ‘smearing’ those mobilising for a ceasefire. (Independent, 26 November 2023; Na’amod, 26 November 2023)

27 November: Jimme Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD), calls for the demolition of mosques, which he says are a site in which ‘anti-democratic, anti-Swedish, homophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda or general disinformation is spread’. (EuroNews, 27 November 2023)

28 November: Rassemblement National MPs walk out of the French parliament after the justice minister denounces the ‘indecent demagoguery’ of the far Right over the killing of a teenager, when RN president Jordan Bendala told the press that ‘youths from housing estates’ came to ‘stab white people’; Marine Le Pen, deliberately using an Arabic word, blamed ‘armed militias carrying out razzias’; and Eric Zemmour spoke of ‘Francocide’ and ‘daily jihad’. (Le Monde, 29 November 2023)

30 November: The Italian Senate begins examining a new migration decree, following its approval by the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), that will see under-16s housed in adult centres for up to 5 months, extend the detention period in holding centres for minors from 30 to 45 days, and allows for holding centre capacity limits to be exceeded by up to 100 per cent, while restricting legal help. (Info Migrants, 30 November 2023)

30 November: EU officials and representatives from ten countries sign a statement about the dangerous rise in the ‘current geopolitical context’ of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish ‘hate crimes’, stressing that both are ‘equally reprehensible’. (Guardian, 30 November 2023)

3 December: The Danish government deploys army units to ‘support the surveillance of Jewish and Israeli sites in Copenhagen’ in response to an increase in antisemitism since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war. The defence ministry declined to say, when contacted by AFP, if similar protective measures would be taken for Muslim sites in the country. (The Local, 3 December 2023)

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT 

On the Dublin riots see also CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT; RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

23 November: Colin Webster is convicted of distributing a terrorist publication by Dunfermline Sheriff Court after he shared a video produced by the proscribed terrorist organisation National Action in which a man criticises ‘hook-nosed bankers’ and calls for resistance to the erasure of ‘white culture’. (The Courier, 23 November 2023)

23 November: Police conduct raids on 20 residences in eight federal states targeting members of the Reichsbürger movement, a far-right group who do not recognize the German democratic state and who aim to overthrow it through acts of violence. (DW, 23 November 2023)

23 November: Irish police blame a ‘lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology’ for serious disorder following a knife attack on children and a woman outside a Dublin primary  school. Anti-immigrant protesters, some carrying ‘White Lives Matter’ signs, battle with police, torching vehicles and looting shops. (AFP, 23 November 2023)

24 November: Anti-fascists in Sykes, Thessaloniki, Greece, mobilise after two far-right attacks on the shelter of a homeless Roma family, which involved throwing stones and water on blankets, destroying belongings and blocking the entrance. (Alter Thess, 24 November 2023)

25 November: Following the fatal stabbing of Thomas, a teenager at a village dance in  Crépol, Drôme, France, far-right paramilitaries parade in uniform through the streets of nearby Romans-sur-Isère. Far-right politicians blame the attack on youths from immigrant backgrounds residing in public housing and ‘anti-white racism’. (AA, 28 November 2023; France 24, 26 November 2023)

27 November: Tommy Robinson appears in court charged with a criminal offence after allegedly refusing to leave a national march against antisemitism from which he had been excluded. (Guardian, 27 November 2023)

28 November : The French interior minister proposes bans on three far-right organisations  connected to recent events in Drôme, including Division Martel and two unnamed groups. (Le Monde, 28 November 2023)

30 November: The founder of the far-right German terror group Gruppe S is sentenced to six years in prison after the group is found to have an openly National Socialist attitude and a desire to attack mosques in order to provoke a civil war. A further nine members are found guilty of founding, joining or supporting a terrorist organisation. (DW, 30 November 2023)

POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

See also NATIONAL SECURITY AND COUNTER-TERRORISM

21 November: Police raid the homes of 17 people in Bavaria, Germany who are suspected of spreading antisemitic hate speech online. The suspects are accused of celebrating Hamas’ 7 October attack and sharing messages like ‘Gas the Jews’ on WhatsApp. (Yashiva World, 22 November 2023)

20 November: Former home secretary Suella Braverman is criticised by senior police officers for meeting with the controversial pressure group Fair Cop, which has links with the Reclaim Party, criticises diversity and inclusion policies, describes supporters of Palestine as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ and claims support from anonymous officers across the country. (Byline Times, 20 November 2023)

22 November: MPs Nadia Whittome and Kim Johnson and DJ Annie Mac are amongst those backing ‘Art Not Evidence’, a new campaign for a change in law regarding the use of rap lyrics as evidence in court. (Guardian, 22 November 2023)

✍️ Sign our open letter calling for law reform to keep creative and artistic expression out of court 🤝 link in bio pic.twitter.com/dQnzbiLUfG

— Art Not Evidence (@artnotevidence) November 22, 2023

23 November: An IOPC investigation is launched after an unidentified man, who was suffering a mental health crisis and in possession of a loaded firearm, is shot dead by police in Dagenham, east London. (Metropolitan Police, 23 November 2023)

24 November: The Alliance for Police Accountability criticises the Met for allowing an officer to return to his post at a school in Lambeth, London, despite having wrongfully arrested a 16-year-old Black Muslim student last year, allegedly manhandling her and leaving her traumatised. (Open Democracy, 24 November 2023)

25 November: Following the launch of an investigation into allegations that Greater Manchester Police have mistreated  women in custody and carried out unjustifiable strip searches, a further nine women and three men issue anonymous complaints. (Sky News,  25 November 2023)

25 November: The Met circulates ‘Hate Crime Protest Leaflet’ among pro-Palestinian demonstrators warning that they should not use words that ‘are racist or incite hatred against any faith’, ‘support Hamas or any other banned organisation’, or ‘celebrate or promote acts of terrorism’.  Seven related arrests are reported, including for comparing Israel’s ‘strikes’ to the Holocaust and for depicting a swastika inside a Star of David. (Guardian, 25 November 2023; Daily Mail, 25 November 2023)

26 November: The lawyer for Chris Kaba’s family and JUSTICE criticise the Home Office for  ‘giving police carte blanche to behave as they like’ by pushing through a review of armed policing without adequate consultation. The review was commissioned after firearms officers downed weapons when their colleague was charged with Kaba’s murder. (Evening Standard, 26 November 2023; Open Democracy, 22 November 2023)

27 November: The funeral of Christos Michalopoulos, a 17-year-old Roma boy who died from a gunshot fired by a police officer during a chase on 11 November, is held in Thebes, Greece. Christos’ death is the third death of a Roma teenager involving Greek police in less than three years. (Al Jazeera, 27 November 2023)

29 November: The European Legal Support Centre says that in the last seven weeks it has registered over 390 new cases, including arrests at Palestine solidarity protests, violent assaults against Palestinians and allies, censorship, university suspension, workplace dismissals, home visits from law enforcement and threats to residency status. (European Legal Support Centre, 29 November 2023)

29 November: Liberty launches a legal challenge against regulations lowering the threshold of disruption permitting police to impose conditions on protests. (Guardian, 29 November 2023)

NATIONAL SECURITY AND COUNTER-TERRORISM 

22 November: Spanish police arrest three people in an anti-terrorist investigation into the shooting in the face of Alejo Vidal-Quadras, co-founder of the far-right Vox party, in Madrid. Suspected ‘links with foreign countries’ are under investigation. (Al Jazeera, 22 November 2023) 

23 November: The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, advises the government not to implement plans to amend the law on glorifying terrorism following pro-Palestine marches, given the need for precision in the law and the excessive damage it would inflict on free speech rights. (Guardian, 23 November 2023) 

23 November: German police raid 15 properties in four states, including 11 in Berlin, allegedly connected to Hamas and the Palestinian support group Samidoun. (Deutsche Welle, 23 November 2023)

30 November: Two teenagers are arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a ‘holy war’ against the West, including on a synagogue. They pre-announced an attack scheduled for 1 December on Telegram. (Deutsche Welle, 30 November 2023)

2 December: French anti-terror prosecutors say that a ‘radical Islamist’ being treated for mental illness has been arrested for stabbing to death a German tourist and wounding two people in central Paris. (Le Monde, 3 December 2023)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION

23 November: A statement by four UN Special Rapporteurs warns that a worldwide climate of criminalisation and sanctions against those speaking out on Gaza/Israel stifles free expression and creates an atmosphere where people may fear participating in public life, particularly when solidarity with victims is equated with ‘support for terrorism or antisemitism’. (OHCHR, 23 November 2023)

29 November: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules, following a case brought by a public servant from the Walloon town of Ans, Belgium, that the public authorities of member states can prohibit employees from wearing headscarves and other religious symbols. (Brussels Times, 29 November 2023)

EDUCATION

27 November: After University of St Andrews staff object to a public statement issued by senior management criticising Rector Stella Maris for a message to students calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, the university’s principal issues a statement suggesting that she will work with them to ‘restore an environment of inclusivity and respect’. (University of St Andrews, 26 November 2023)

27 November: The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) announces a collaborative campaign to defend freedom to teach and research so that discussion of the Middle East can take place without fear of internal or external pressure. (BRICUP, 26 November 2023)

28 November: Academics criticise the Rectorate of the University of Vienna, Austria, for the unprecedented cancellation of the teach-in-series ‘Against the Present: Past and Future Perspectives on Palestine’ and the removal of a statement ‘Against Violence in Israel and Palestine’ from a departmental website. (X, 28 November 2023)

29 November: Queen Mary College, London withdraws its invitation to host a Gaza fundraiser with boxing champion Amir Khan, after the Jewish Chronicle reveals that scheduled speaker Imam Asim Khan had signed a statement created by Cage calling Israel a ‘settler colonial state’ that practises genocide. Another proposed speaker had allegedly expressed support for Hamas. (Jewish Chronicle, 29 November 2023)

2 December: The education secretary criticises schoolchildren after Policy Exchange and the Daily Mail claim that thousands of children, supported by the ‘hard-left’ Stop the War Coalition and teachers who ‘wave through absences’, are skipping school to attend pro-Palestine marches, where children as young as seven chant ‘from the river to the sea’. (Daily Mail, 2 December 2023)

4 December: York University student Tuğba İyigün says she was visited by North Yorkshire police, who informed her that she had been referred to Prevent for tweeting ‘from the river to the sea’. No further action was taken. (Novara Media, 4 December 2023)

HOUSING | POVERTY | WELFARE

25 November: The Grenfell Tower inquiry’s final report into the 2017 disaster, in which 72 people died, is delayed again and may not be published till mid-2024, it is revealed. (Guardian, 23 November 2023)

27 November: According to the OECD, the UK spends the most of any European country subsidising the costs of structural inequality. (Guardian, 27 November 2023)

29 November: The Supreme Court rules that wide injunctions have a negative impact on Gypsies and Travellers’ ability to pursue a nomadic way of life and should only be used in exceptional circumstances, and highlights the continuing lack of site provision. (Friends, Families & Travellers, 29 November 2023)

4 December: An investigation by Lighthouse and Le Monde reveals that France’s social security agency, CNAF, has for more than a decade and without public consultation been using a secret algorithm to flag people on welfare suspected of benefit fraud, which both directly and indirectly discriminates against groups protected under anti-discrimination laws. (Lighthouse Reports, 4 December 2023)

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

21 November: The NHS awards a £330 million contract to US spy tech firm Palantir to create a huge new data platform, sparking fears that patients’ data will be misused. (Guardian, 21 November 2023)

4 December: An all-party group of MPs say NHS inaction on inequality in transplants is causing deaths among minority ethnic and mixed heritage patients, who are more likely to need transplants because of vulnerability to conditions such as sickle cell and kidney disease, and less likely to find donors. (Guardian, 4 December 2023)

EMPLOYMENT | EXPLOITATION | INDUSTRIAL ACTION

22 November: Julia Quecaño Casimiro, a migrant worker from Chile, is the first person on a seasonal work visa to take her employer to an employment tribunal alleging unfair dismissal, with support from United Voices of the World. (Guardian, 22 November 2023)

24 November: Strikes are held in the UK, Germany, Spain and France as part of the ‘Make Amazon Pay’ campaign. In the UK, over 200 employees strike at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry to demand £15 an hour. (Deutsche Welle, 24 November 2023)

28 November: Foreign care workers invited after February 2022 to fill a skills gap are being ‘exploited on a grand scale’, according to unions. They face deportation within 60 days if their employer’s business fails, while some are paid half the minimum wage and many face hidden fees. (Guardian, 28 November 2023)

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. 

21 November: The German Biennale for Contemporary Photography cancels a planned exhibition by the renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam, accusing him of antisemitism for social media posts on the war on Gaza. Two co-curators of the exhibition resign in solidarity and a tour of three German cities is also cancelled. (Al Jazeera, 21 November 2003) 

23 November: Football Association council member Wasim Haq resigns after being suspended for a tweet, later deleted, in which he said ‘Adolf Hitler would be proud of Benjamin Netanyahu’. (BBC, 23 November 2023)

23 November: Eight anonymous UK-based journalists address a letter to Al Jazeera criticising the BBC’s failure to accurately cover Israel’s human rights abuses, saying the organisation disproportionately humanises Israeli suffering over Palestinians’. The letter claims the BBC reserves the use of words like ‘massacre’ and ‘atrocity’ for discussions of abuses committed by Hamas. (Al Jazeera, 23 November 2023)

23 November: Following the stabbing of three children and a care assistant outside a primary school in Dublin, Ireland, allegedly by an Irish citizen from Algeria with mental health problems, far-right groups post anti-immigrant messages on social media  and call on supporters to ‘tool up’ and ‘any fucking gypo, foreigner, anyone, just kill them’. (Observer, 26 November 2023) 

24 November: After Talk TV claims it has leaked footage that shows preachers at several mosques calling for Jews to be killed and Israel destroyed, police launch investigations into Redbridge Islamic Centre in Ilford, east London, as well as mosques in the West Midlands and Northamptonshire. (Daily Express, 24 November 2023)

24 November: The new English Heritage chief, Nick Merriman, says stories about the legacy of slavery and colonialism must be central to the way heritage is presented in collections. ‘This is not political correctness’, he remarks, as ‘more complexity is better history’. (Guardian 24 November 2023)

24 November: The ERRC warns that far-right web vigilantes in Brindisi, Italy, are waging a hate campaign against Romani women, taking photos of young women, posting them on social media, branding them ‘thieving Gypsies’ and accusing them of ‘stealing children’. (ERRC, 24 November 2023)

24 November: In France, police detain Nice and Algeria footballer Youcef Atal after he shared a video that allegedly encouraged violence against Jewish people. Atal, who deleted the video and stated he supports a message of peace, will stand trial for incitement to religious hatred on 18 December. (Al Jazeera, 24 November 2023)

24 November: Facebook approves a number of ads in Hebrew and Arabic calling for a ‘Holocaust’ against Palestinians. The ads were submitted by Palestinian social advocacy group 7amleh as part of a test of Facebook’s hate speech algorithm, which previously approved ads submitted by the Israeli right-wing group Ad Kan calling for the murder of Palestinian rights activist Paul Larudee. (Middle East Monitor, 24 November 2023)

25 November: The Daily Mail claims that thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators marching in London defied a hate speech warning, chanting what it claims is the ‘antisemitic’ slogan ‘from the rivers to the sea’, ‘with children as young as five joining in.’ (Daily Mail, 25 November 2023)

26 November: In Ireland, police are reportedly investigating Conor McGregor for spreading hate speech online after the MMA fighter made a series of social media posts including calling for Britain First leader Paul Golding to organise a freedom march, sharing a list of crimes committed by migrants and stating that people need to act to ensure Ireland’s safety. (Yahoo, 26 November 2023)

26 November: The Guardian is criticised for dehumanising Palestinians after the paper published an article on a hostage exchange which referred to Israeli ‘children’ and Palestinian child prisoners as ‘people aged 18 and younger’. (Middle East Monitor, 26 November 2023)

27 November: During the Scottish BAFTAs, the BBC shows an edited version of director Eilidh Munro’s acceptance speech in which a section expressing solidarity with Palestine is cut. (Democracy Now, 27 November 2023)

29 November: Around 100 culture workers gather outside the National Theatre to protest the ‘deep silence’ of art organisations over the war on Gaza. (X, 29 November 2023)

https://twitter.com/TheStage/status/1729904908206326133

29 November: Irish justice minister Helen McEntee states that social media company X did not fulfil its community standards, in failing to engage with Irish police and allowing the far Right to spread unsubstantiated rumours which contributed to the Dublin riots. (Irish Times, 29 November 2023) 

30 November: Over 1,000 British artists, including Academy and Bafta Award winners, sign a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the silencing of Palestinian voices. (Artists for Palestine, 30 November 2023)

1,300 artists, including Olivia Colman and Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, have criticised the censorship of pro-Palestinian voices and warned 'members of Israel’s far-right government are openly calling for ethnic cleansing' https://t.co/afC24hZX1O

— Artists for Palestine UK 🍉 (@Art4PalestineUK) December 3, 2023

1 December: The Anthony Walker Foundation criticises comments made by football manager Joey Barton following a podcast appearance in which he described his brother’s racially motivated murder of Anthony Walker as a ‘scrap’. The foundation described Barton’s comments as insensitive and ‘factually incorrect’. (BBC News, 1 December 2023)

4 December: Google reinstates an app designed to help people identify and boycott products from companies that support Israel. (Middle East Eye, 4 December 2023)

5 December: In France, two weeks before football manager Christophe Galtier’s trial for racial discrimination, Nice player Jean Claire Todibo alleges that Galtier pressured him to break his Ramadan fast and labelled the player an ‘extremist’. (Daily Mail, 5 December 2023)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT 

For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. For more on the Dublin riots see ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

23 November: A man is arrested on suspicion of arson and racially aggravated harassment after the car of a Jewish woman was set alight and she was racially abused in north London. (BBC, 23 November 2023)

23 November: As anti-immigrant riots erupt on the streets of Dublin, Ireland. A bus driver, Sailesh Tupsy, originally from Mauritius, is punched and pulled from his cab to calls of ‘Get out of the bus; get out of the cab or we will kill you’, before the bus is set alight, along with at least one Garda vehicle, a tram and a double decker bus, and several shops are looted. 34 arrests are made. (Irish Times, 23 November 2023; Irish Times, 23 November 2023; Al Jazeera, 24 November 2023)

23 November: Two asylum accommodation centres in Dublin, Ireland are attacked following an evening of violence. A centre in Dublin’s Finglas area is petrol bombed, setting part of it alight. The windows of another centre in Dublin are smashed by rioters. Both centres have been attacked previously. (Irish Times, 24 November 2023)

 24 November: In Charleroi, Belgium the graves of 85 Jewish people are damaged in an antisemitic act of vandalism. (News18, 24 November 2023)

26 November: The police launch an investigation after a man is filmed on a London train abusing Jewish people returning from the Campaign Against Antisemitism protest, calling them ‘child killers’ and child abusers and threatening to hit them on the head. (Jewish Chronicle, 27 November 2023)

 30 November: The Police Service of Northern Ireland declines an FOI request for the publication of data on reported racist hate crimes in South Belfast as ‘the factors favouring withholding the information are stronger than those in favour’. (PPR, 30 November 2023)

4 December: Faith groups organise a Building Bridges event outside Downing Street in an attempt to heal community relations and oppose a rise in hate against Muslims and Jews following the war in Gaza. (Independent, 4 December 2023)

5 December: A BBC investigation reveals that the Northern Irish police advised the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association, which was targeted in racist attacks including arson that destroyed its building, to reassure loyalist community leaders it was not running a mosque. (BBC News, 5 December 2023)

The calendar was compiled by Sophie Chauhan with the help of  Graeme Atkinson, Margaret McAdam, Louis Ordish, Anne-Ysore Onana-Ateba and Joseph Maggs. 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.