Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 4 – 18 February 2025)

Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 4 – 18 February 2025)

February 20 2025 News

Written by: IRR News Team


ELECTORAL POLITICS | GOVERNMENT POLICY

4 February: 89 Labour MPs establish a pressure group advising the prime minister to take tougher action on immigration and to increase publicity on deportations and other actions to tackle migration, as concerns over losing votes to Reform deepen. (Guardian, 4 February 2025)

6 February: After conservative attempts to form a coalition government collapse, the Austrian president asks far-right Freedom Party (FPO) leader Herbert Kickl to start negotiations to form a coalition government. (BBC News, 6 February 2025)

6 February: As part of a strategy to combat Reform, Labour launches a Reform-style Facebook advert, paid for by the Yorkshire and Humber Labour party, from a group called UK Migration Updates, which reads, ‘Breaking news: Labour hits five year high in migrant removals’. Labour North West put the advert on a Facebook page called ‘Putting Runcorn first’. (Guardian, 6 February 2025)

7 February: After French justice minister Gérald Darmanin says that the constitution should be changed to end automatic citizenship for anyone born and raised in the country, prime minister François Bayrou calls for a broader national debate on immigration and what it means to be French. (Le Monde, 7 February 2025)

8 February: Health minister Andrew Gwynne is sacked from his post and suspended from the Labour Party for a series of racist and sexist comments made on a local Labour WhatsApp group called ‘Trigger Me Timbers’. Burnley MP Oliver Ryan is also being investigated over ‘unacceptable and deeply disturbing’ comments on the same WhatsApp group, which is said to include more than a dozen local Labour councillors and party officials. (Guardian, 8 February 2025; Guardian, 9 February 2025)

10 February: Left-leaning politicians, including Clive Lewis MP, accuse the Home Office of ‘enabling the mainstreaming of racism’ as for the first time it releases footage showing people being removed from the UK. (Guardian, 10 February 2025)

11 February: A Dutch study by Amsterdam’s Free University reveals, from analysing posts from 26 countries, that far-right politicians are significantly more likely than those in the mainstream or on the left to spread fake news on social media and that amplifying misinformation is now part of far-right strategy. (Guardian, 11 February 2025)                                 

12 February: In Austria, coalition talks between the far-right Freedom party and the conservatives break down, with disputed control over the interior ministry, immigration and asylum policy linked to the collapse of talks. (Deutsche Welle, 12 February 2025) 

13 February: Former Scottish first minister Hamza Yousaf describes the exchange on Palestinian refugees between PM Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, in which they agree that a judge was wrong to allow a Palestinian family to come to the UK under the Human Rights Act, as one of the most sickening he had ever heard, and as a display of institutional racism. (STV, 13 February 2025) 

14 February: After a man from an Afghan background, said to be motivated by Islamism but acting alone, drives into a trade union demonstration in Munich, Germany, injuring 36 people, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accuses the Christian Democrats in Bavaria of a ‘failure of state’ for not having previously deported the suspect. (Guardian, 13 February 2025; Deutsche Welle, 13 February 2025; Deutsche Welle, 14 February 2025)

14 February: The government abolishes the role of independent adviser on political violence and disruption held by the life peer Lord Walney, who had previously called for the banning of groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil. (Morning Star, 14 February 2025)

14 February: US vice-president Vance, in a speech to the Munich Security Conference, attacks Europe’s leadership for suppressing free speech, mishandling immigration and avoiding collaboration with far-right parties, all of which constitute a ‘threat from within’. He singles out the UK for placing ‘basic liberties of religious Britons’ at risk, citing the prosecution in 2022 of a man who had refused to desist from praying outside an abortion clinic. (Guardian, 14 February 2025; Guardian, 15 February 2025)

16 February: In Austria, the leader of the far-right Freedom party calls for a ‘rigorous clampdown on asylum’ after a Syrian asylum seeker, said to have been radicalised online and have ISIS connections, stabs a teenager to death and leaves five others injured in Villach. (Guardian, 16 February 2025)

17 February: The Trump administration urges Romania to lift travel restrictions on Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, who hold dual US-UK citizenship, as they await trial on charges of human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and money laundering. (Newsweek, 17 February 2025)

17 February: During the Italian conference of prefects and police chiefs, the government urges attendees to accelerate repatriation of irregular migrants, citing 2024 data from the interior ministry that claims they are more likely to commit a felony than regular migrants and Italians. (ANSA, 17 February 2025)

17 February: 900 Labour members including MPs, peers and trade unionists accuse the government of copying the Conservatives’ ‘performative cruelty’ in its migration and asylum policy, saying it violates fundamental rights and fuels the rise of the far Right. (Guardian, 17 February 2025)

17 February: As right-wing conservatives from Britain, Europe and Australia attend the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference to network with US Republicans linked to Trump, Kemi Badenoch tells the conference that western civilisation is at risk of collapse, that ‘some cultures are better than others’ and that some immigrants ‘bring behaviours, cultures and practices that undermine the West’. (Guardian, 17 February 2025; Guardian, 17 February 2025)

18 February: Chief justice Lady Carr expresses herself ‘deeply troubled’ by Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch’s criticisms of the judge who allowed an immigration appeal by a Palestinian family. Politicians should ‘respect and protect judicial independence, and ‘it is not acceptable for judges to be the subject of personal attacks for doing no more than their jobs’, she says in a letter to the prime minister and to justice secretary Shabana Mahmood. (Guardian, 18 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.

6 February: Germany’s top court rules that the extradition of suspected far-left militant Maja T. to Hungary was wrongful, citing concerns over prison conditions for LGBTQ individuals. Maja T, who is accused of attacking far-right activists at a 2023 rally in Budapest, had already been handed over to Hungarian authorities before the ruling. (Barrons, 6 February 2025)

8 February: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and France’s Marine Le Pen appear at a ‘Make Europe Great Again’ rally in Madrid, Spain on 8 February, echoing Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Organised by the far-right Patriots for Europe party, the event aims to unite Europe’s populist right. The Patriots, now the third-largest group in the European Parliament, seek to expand their influence, with Austria’s FPÖ negotiating for power and Le Pen leading polls for France’s 2027 presidential race. (Telegraph, 8 February 2025; New York Times, 8 February 2925)

8 February: Over 200,000 protesters gather in Munich to oppose the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of the 23 February general election. The demonstration is significantly larger than expected, with participants carrying anti-AfD signs and receiving support from activist groups, churches, and local sports clubs. Similar protests opposing the rising influence of far-right parties took place across Germany. (AP, 8 February 2025)

10 February: Thousands of far-right extremists and neo-Nazis march in Budapest on 8 February to commemorate a failed Nazi German and Hungarian escape attempt in 1945. The event, attended by around 4,000 people, features participants in Nazi uniforms and far-right insignia, while a few hundred anti-fascist activists hold a peaceful counter-protest nearby. (U24Media, 10 February 2025)

10 February: In the Netherlands, the far-right Bold Students Party (VSP) enters the Utrecht University Council, sparking concerns about the rise of radical student groups in universities. Experts warn that low election turnout and a lack of institutional resistance have allowed such parties to gain influence, while university officials insist they will intervene if necessary but see no immediate cause for concern. (DUB, 10 February 2025)

12 February: An undercover ITV News investigation reveals how ‘Active Club England’, a white supremacist group disguised as a fitness club, is secretly recruiting and training members for a ‘race war’. Former UK counterterrorism head Neil Basu warns the group is a successor to banned far-right organisations, highlighting the risk of radicalised individuals committing acts of violence. (ITV News, 12 February 2025)

16 February: Members of the neo-Nazi KOB WEILLE group attack the Turkish Migrant Workers Cultural Association (ACTIT) in Paris, France, severely injuring a young member of the socialist youth organization Young Struggle. The attack, condemned by migrant and democratic organisations, is seen as an attempt to suppress immigrant workers’ activism. Police arrest six suspects and launch an investigation into attempted homicide. (ANF, 18 February 2025; Euronews, 17 February 2025; Huffington Post, 17 February 2025)

18 February: Byline Times investigators find that Tommy Robinson supporters have formed a violent anti-Islam network. Emerging online during the summer 2024 racist riots, when followers were allegedly offered £4,000 for every police car they burned, it is now said to have a private channel dedicated to stirring up Islamophobic hate, with £100 rewards offered for video evidence of members spray-painting anti-Muslim graffiti on a mosque. (Byline Times, 18 February 2025)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

6 February: After a four-month murder trial, concluding with six young Black men, some boys of 15 at the time of their arrest, being found not guilty of joint enterprise murder, Keir Monteith KC calls for a comprehensive parliamentary review into the ‘dangerous scope of the joint enterprise laws’. (Garden Court Chambers, 6 February 2025)

7 February: The CPS announces that as part of its action plan to address disproportionality it will change prosecutors’ guidance to eliminate racial bias in decision making, review how drill music is used evidentially, and implement a full national scheme to monitor the use of the joint enterprise doctrine. (Guardian, 7 February 2025)

8 February: Brice O, a refugee who was almost blinded in one eye in February 2014 during an operation by Spain’s Guardia Civil police force, which ended in the deaths of 14 people at Ceuta, files a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture over Spain’s failure to investigate the use of riot equipment. (Guardian, 8 February 2025)

8 February: Police in Berlin, Germany put a stop to a demonstration in support of Palestinians, citing protest restrictions including a ban on Arabic music and non-German or English language chants. Around 50 protesters stage a sit-in and arrests are made. Amnesty International calls for an end to discriminatory restriction of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. (TRT World, 8 February 2025)

10 February: Organisations supporting victims of police violence urge the home secretary to reject police proposals that could reverse crucial decisions on police use of force and unlawful killing in inquests, an intervention made in light of a Home Office review brought in after the prosecution of a Met police officer for the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba. (INQUEST, 10 February 2025)

Protesters in central London holding up a banner saying Justice for Chris Kaba with an image of the 24-year-old in black and white.
The Justice for Chris Kaba march in London. Credit: Steve Eason, Flickr.

18 February: The interim findings of the Gauke review of the sentencing system criticise the ‘penal populism’ of successive governments for bringing the prison system in England and Wales close to collapse through an overreliance on long sentences. (Guardian, 18 February 2025)

National Security and anti-terrorism

6 February: A Prevent rapid learning review, following the conviction of Axel Rudakubana for the Southport murders, makes 14 recommendations for improvement, including that the programme should routinely refer reports involving children and those with ‘complex needs’ to ‘Channel panels’. (Schools Week, 6 February 2025)

12 February: MI5 issues an ‘unreserved apology’ to the BBC and three courts, and the home secretary orders an external review of its actions, after it is revealed that it lied in court while defending its handling of a misogynistic neo-Nazi state informant who attacked his girlfriend with a machete. MI5 had previously banned the BBC from naming the foreign national. (BBC, 12 February 2025)

ASYLUM | MIGRATION | BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights

4 February: A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees finds that current processes for safe and legal routes are overly complex, restrictive and slow, as it calls for a better family reunion system, the restoration of the Afghan resettlement scheme and a refugee visa scheme. (EIN, 4 February 2025)

5 February: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pledges to increase the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain from 5 to 10 years and introduce stricter criteria, including having worked and not claimed benefits or used social housing in the 10 year period; having paid more in taxes than their and their dependants’ collective costs to the state; and barring anyone considered to have arrived irregularly, even if granted refugee status. (Independent, 5 February 2025)

7 February:  An investigation by Reuters finds that provisions of the Illegal Migration Act, introduced in 2023 and not reversed by the Labour government, have led to an increase in the rejection rate for modern slavery claims from 11% to 45% from 2022 to 2023, rising to 46% in the first nine months of 2024. (Info Migrants, 7 February 2025)

11 February: The Spanish government announces it will give migrant workers in an irregular situation who were affected by last autumn’s storms and floods one-year residence and work permits, to allow them to qualify for assistance, a measure believed to benefit over 25,000 migrant workers and their families. (Schengen News, 10 February 2025)

13 February: The French government allows Syrian refugees in the country to go back to Syria to ‘test the water’ without losing their refugee status, in a move which refugee groups hope other EU member states will follow. (The National, 13 February 2025)

14 February: Social media posts denigrating Britain, ‘Histori Nga Britania’ (Stories from Britain), funded by the Foreign Office as part of a £3.75m a year campaign, aim to deter Albanian migrants from moving to the UK, showing images of graffiti and disrepair along with Albanians speaking out about the cost of living crisis, discrimination and the negative impact of Brexit. (inews, 14 February 2025)

17 February: The Ministry of Defence confirms that the Special Forces Command rejected sponsorship applications from over 2,000 Afghan commandos who had credible evidence of service in units fighting alongside the SAS and SBS on life-threatening missions against the Taliban. Despite denying that there is a blanket policy of refusal, it cannot confirm a single application it has supported. (BBC, 17 February 2025) 

Borders and internal controls

3 February: The Greek ombudsman reports that the ’fatal negligence’ of eight coastguards led to the shipwreck of the Adriana, a fishing vessel, off the coast of Pylos, and the deaths of up to 650 people, of whom the bodies of 82 were recovered. Crucial evidence was also found to have been withheld from the inquiry. (Politico, 3 February 2025; Ekathimerini, 14 February 2025)

6 February: On the Global Day of CommemorAction, the anniversary of the deaths of at least 15 people trying to cross from Morocco to Spanish enclave Ceuta, activists pay tribute to all who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe, while  the Moroccan interior minister boasts that its authorities prevented over 78,000 migrant departures to the EU in 2024. (CommemorAction, 6 February 2025; Reuters, 6 February 2025)

9 February: At least 50 bodies of migrants are found in mass graves in two locations in Libya, some of whom had been shot. In one of the sites, 76 survivors were released from a ‘trafficking centre’. Both the EU and Italy fund and support Libya’s migrant detention centres. (France 24, 9 February 2025)

10 February: The government announces the arrest of 609 migrants in 828 raids in January, targeting nail bars, car washes and restaurants, and publishes footage and pictures of the arrests. The Home Office says a total of 5,424 enforcement raids and 3,930 arrests were made from 5 July when Labour took power to 31 January, a 38% increase on the previous 12 months. (Independent, 10 February 2025)

10 February: An evaluation of an 18-month pilot scheme from 2022-23 costing £1.9 million, where half of those granted immigration bail had to wear electronic ankle tags, reveals that 16% of those with tags absconded, compared with only 14% of those without. (Hyphen, 10 February 2025)

12 February: The German government extends border controls at all its borders for a further six months, as migration becomes a key issue in the upcoming election. (AP News, 12 February 2025)

17 February: A report by a coalition of NGOs from across Europe and beyond reveals over 120,000 pushbacks at the EU’s external borders in 2024 and says pushbacks are becoming systematic as migration across Europe becomes increasingly securitised. (Euronews, 17 February 2025)

Reception and detention

4 February: FOI requests reveal alarming levels of legionella disease at the RAF Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre, where 500 asylum seekers are living without having been informed of the outbreak or provided with health advice. Calls for the centre to be evacuated and closed are raised with the Home Office. (inews, 4 February 2025)

5 February: Data obtained by Hyphen from an FOI request reveals that Kent reception centres for young people lost children over 160 times from 2022 to 2024, with three still not found, and shows that 17 unaccompanied children went missing 25 times in 2024. Children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza promises to write to Kent County Council about the findings. (Hyphen, 5 February 2025)

5 February: A Public Accounts Committee report reveals that senior civil servants and Home Office ministers have wasted £100 million of public money in acquiring failed sites to house asylum seekers, such as HMP Northeye, the Bibby Stockholm barge and RAF Scampton. (Guardian, 5 February 2025)

6 February: The high court orders the Home Office to pay damages of £98,757.04 to Nadra Tabasam Almas, upholding the decision that her detention was unlawful and that her later ability to work, buy food and socialise was ‘grossly restricted’ as the amount of time taken to decide her case was ‘unexplained’. (Guardian, 6 February 2025)

8 February: Figures from an FOI request show that in the year to June 2024, 9,139 migrants trying to reach the UK were detained at short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk, France, run by the UK Border Force and Mitie Care and Custody. Data from these sites is not included in official statistics, raising serious concerns over a lack of transparency and accountability. (Independent, 8 February 2025)

10 February: An evaluation of an 18-month pilot scheme from 2022-23 (costing £1.9 million), where half of those granted immigration bail had to wear electronic ankle tags, reveals that 16 per cent of those with tags absconded, compared with only 14 per cent of those without. (Hyphen, 10 February 2025)

10 February: An FOI request reveals that a record 51 people died in Home Office-funded accommodation in 2024, only 30 of which were initially reported, as the Home Office does not publish details of the deaths of migrants in its care. From the declared 30, a third are attributed to suspected suicides and a similar number to unknown causes. Inquest director Deborah Coles raises concerns about the lack of scrutiny and accountability, and the ‘shocking disregard for the extremely vulnerable people who died’. (Guardian, 10 February 2025)

12 February: The government announces a non-statutory inquiry to begin on 17 March to investigate the alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers at the Manston processing centre and the ‘decisions, actions and circumstances’ which led to conditions there. (BBC, 12 February 2025)

17 February: It is revealed that Mehrab Omani, a 45-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who died in Home Office-funded asylum accommodation run by Clearsprings Ready Homes, lay dead for up to four months before being found in March 2024, despite wearing an ankle tag. (Hyphen, 17 February 2025)

17 February: The Home Office announces it is increasing capacity at the Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre from 580 to 800 beds, despite repeated concerns being raised about the harm to the physical and mental health of the men living there. FOI data reveals 430 incidents reported last year, including detainees’ attempts to jump off buildings, hang themselves, harm themselves in the kitchen and overdose. (Independent, 17 February 2025)

Deportations

10 February: The government announces the deportation of 18,987 returns refused asylum seekers from July 2024 to January 2025, an increase of 24%, and the Home Office releases for the first time propaganda footage of 47 men surrounded by 5 Border Force staff being forced onto a chartered jet. (Guardian, 10 February 2025)

11 February: The government seeks a company to oversee a comprehensive service of deportation flights, offering a contract of between £179m and £392m for up to seven years. (Independent, 11 February 2025)

17 February: An investigation by The New Arab claims that Cyprus unlawfully detains and deports Syrian refugees under the guise of ‘voluntary returns’, in a programme financed and operationally supported by the EU, denying them access to asylum procedures. (Statewatch, 17 February 2025) 

Crimes of solidarity

5 February: Luca Casarini, founder of SAR NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, who has been critical of Italy’s complicity with Libya in human rights abuses against migrants, reveals that his mobile phone appears to have been targeted by military-grade spyware made by Israeli company Paragon, one of at least 90 targets from 14 EU member states. At least three refugee activists making similar critiques have been targeted. (Guardian, 5 February 2025)

Citizenship 

10 February: New Home Office guidance on citizenship say that refugees coming on small boats or concealed in lorries will normally not be granted citizenship no matter how long ago they entered, after previously being eligible after ten years, a change lawyers and refugee groups believe to be inconsistent with the Refugee Convention. (Scottish Refugee Council, 13 February 2025; Guardian, 11 February 2025)

16 February: 148 organisations and individuals, including Britain’s largest trade union, sign an open letter accusing the government of toxic politics over the denial of citizenship for refugees arriving spontaneously. (Guardian, 16 February 2025)

16 February: The brother of dual British-Nigerian citizen Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, who has been in prison in Nigeria since his extraordinary rendition from Kenya in 2021, accuses the British government of turning its back in failing to intervene to demand his release. (Guardian, 16 February 2025)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION

8 February: In an unprecedented ruling, the Charity Commission’s disqualification order against Gary Mond, trustee of the Jewish National Fund UK, for anti-Muslim posts, is quashed on appeal on the basis that it was not necessary or proportionate and that though his activity could be ‘perceived as anti-Islam’, he had the right to freedom of expression. (Telegraph, 8 February 2025)

13 February: The EU Advocate-General rules that Denmark’s ‘ghetto’ policy allowing the demolition of social housing apartment blocks in areas where at least half the residents have a ‘non-western’ background, constitutes direct discrimination based on ethnicity. If the ruling is followed by the European Court of Justice, which is usual, Denmark will be obliged to withdraw the policy. (Guardian, 13 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. 

5 February: An Oxford University report says that the number of children who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) has tripled since 1997 to 21% of all pupils in England. It finds that attainment gaps between EAL learners and other classmates has tripled since 2018, and recommends increasing EAL funding and reintroducing ‘statutory assessment’. (TES, 5 February 2025)

10 February: The British Association for American Studies (BAAS) announces the cancellation of its small grants programme after the US Embassy in London ‘terminated’ its financial support when the BAAS refused ‘to remove any criteria or goals relating to equality, diversity or inclusion’. (THE, 10 February 2025)

10 February: Analysis by FFT Education Datalab suggests the continuing upward trend in school exclusions may be ‘beginning to slow’, though ‘the disparity between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers remains’. Most recent analysis of exclusion ‘risk factors’ shows that being of a ‘Gypsy/ Roma ethnic background’ or ‘Black Caribbean or Mixed White/ Black Caribbean ethnic background’ are ‘still associated with a higher rate of exclusion’, even allowing for other factors. (TES, 10 February 2025)

10 February: Results from a DfE-funded, six-year trial of five mental health interventions, conducted across 513 schools in England, indicates that daily, teacher-led five minute relaxation-based sessions in primary school ‘particularly benefitted children from minoritised ethnic groups compared with those from white groups’. (Anna Freud, 10 February 2025)

11 February: Research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) finds that British Minority Ethnic (BME) children living in diverse areas are twice as likely to be receiving SEN support and three times more likely to be identified for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) as children living in in majority white areas. Ethnically Asian children and those whose first language is not English also had a lesser chance of being identified with SEND. (TES, 11 February 2025)

12 February: The Community Security Trust (CST) charity annual report finds that instances of antisemitism at UK schools and universities were down on 2023 levels, but still at their second highest rate. (CST, 12 February 2025)

12 February: The court of appeal rules that a Christian school worker, sacked for sharing Facebook posts expressing concern about lessons for primary school children on LGBTQ issues, was wrongfully dismissed. (Guardian, 12 February 2025)

13 February: The Free University of Berlin in Germany cancels an event on the ‘ongoing Gaza genocide’ to be addressed by the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine on the grounds of ‘polarisation and the unpredictable security situation’. The Israeli ambassador to Berlin is reported to have requested the cancellation and the mayor of Berlin reportedly called on the university to ‘act against antisemitism’. (Middle East Monitor, 13 February 2025; Palestine Chronicle, 13 February 2025)

HOUSING | POVERTY | WELFARE

13 February: In a preliminary ruling in a case brought by tenants living in public housing in Copenhagen, the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg finds that Denmark’s ‘ghetto’ policy allowing the demolition of social housing apartment blocks in ‘transformation areas’ where at least half the residents have a ‘non-western’ background, constitutes direct discrimination based on ethnicity. (CURIA, 13 February 2025, Guardian, 13 February 2025) 

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

5 February: Health secretary Wes Streeting, citing a staff member promoting ‘anti-whiteness’, says that NHS Diversity Equality and Inclusion (DEI) policies are hindered by ‘misguided approaches’ such as ‘anti-whiteness’. (Guardian, 5 February 2025) 

9 February: Psychologists across Germany warn that refugees suffering from mental health disorders are being left anxious by a divisive debate in the run-up to the general election, linking refugees and migrants to knife crime, which has placed them under general suspicion. (Deutsche Welle, 9 February 2025)

11 February: A report by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that Asian 5-year-olds are 70% more likely to have tooth decay than the national average,  and that 5-year-olds in deprived areas were twice as likely to have decay than those in the least deprived. (Guardian, 11 February 2025) 

13 February: British Jordanian emergency doctor Nadeem Crowe, who says he was suspended from work due to ‘disturbing posts on social media regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict’, files a lawsuit against the Royal Free Hospital. (AJ Plus, 13 February 2025)

EMPLOYMENT | EXPLOITATION | INDUSTRIAL ACTION

9 February: An investigation finds that two NHS employees, who were investigated and barred from the workplace for expressing an interest in organising a peaceful demonstration in support of Palestine in their lunch break,, have no case to answer and that the NHS Trust breached its disciplinary procedures. (Guardian, 9 February 2025)

11 February: A report by the trade union Unison, ‘Caring at a Cost’, finds migrant workers on health and care workers visas are ‘exploited and brutalised on Dickensian terms,’ as many are charged fees of more than £20,000, are being housed in overcrowded and substandard accommodation, are expected to share a room with other workers, and face widespread racism in the workplace. (Guardian, 11 February 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. 

11 February: Recent analysis of 32 million tweets from 8,198 MPs across 26 countries reveals that far-right populist politicians are significantly more likely to disseminate misinformation on social media compared to their mainstream or far-left counterparts. The research indicates that amplifying fake news has become a key strategy for far-right parties to destabilise democracies and gain political advantage. (Guardian, 11 February 2025)

11 February: Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr is acquitted of racially aggravated harassment charges after calling a Metropolitan Police officer ‘stupid and white’ during a dispute in January 2023. (BBC, 11 February 2025)

12 February: Equi, a new British Muslim community think tank, says that the government must become ‘faith-literate’ and stop ‘herding’ Muslim creatives into receiving counter-extremism funding, in a report launched in Parliament. (Middle East Eye, 13 February 2025)

13 February: A court in Amsterdam orders Dutch software company Speakap to pay €45,000 in compensation to Palestinian software developer Nouraldin Alsweirki, whose firing over pro-Palestinian posts on LinkedIn, the judge rules, amounts to ‘politically motivated discrimination’. (Volkskrant, 13 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.

5 February: Hours after a community rally takes place in the Beechmount area of west Belfast in support of a family whose house had racist graffiti painted on it, the organiser of the rally has his car smashed up. Sam Doherty says that he is the victim of a ‘campaign of intimidation’, with an individual approaching him on the street and threatening to kill him. (Irish News, 8 February 2025; Belfast Media, 5 February 2025)

6 February: After 11 people, including two Syrians and a Bosnian woman, are killed at an education centre in Örebro, Sweden, police investigate possible racist motives. A TV channel broadcasts a video filmed by a student hiding in a bathroom in which shots can be heard outside and a person can be heard shouting: ‘You will leave Europe’. (Guardian, 6 February 2025; The Local, 7 February 2025)

8 February: Brighton & Hove Stand Up to Racism and the local Labour party hold a solidarity rally in support of a family, originally from Iran, whose home in the Kemptown area was daubed with racist graffiti, including the words ‘scum’ and ‘foreigner’. (The Argus, 2 February 2025)

9 February: In Larissa, Greece, a former member of Golden Dawn commits suicide after shooting dead two Roma men he was working with, confessing to the double murder in a phone call to police, then firing at them before turning the gun on himself. (Keep Talking Greece, 9 February 2025)

11 February: Racist graffiti saying ‘Locals Only’ that appears in the Lenadoon areas of West Belfast are immediately condemned by West Belfast MP Paul Maskey. (Belfast Media, 11 February 2025).

15 February: A Stormont briefing paper says that the number of racist incidents in Northern Ireland now regularly exceeds sectarian incidents (1,300 racially motivated incidents, compared to 1,091 sectarian ones in 2023) (RTÉ, 15 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. 

Feature image: The image is a drawing of people showing resistance and fighting towards building a world without chains. Designed by Kyle Alexander for IRR News.

Kyle Alexander is a queer lino printer inspired by union and labour art traditions as well as the everyday sensuality, work and joy of community care. You can see more of their work at @tryingtoslwwp on Instagram.

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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