Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 8 – 22nd July 2025)

Calendar of Racism and Resistance ( 8 – 22nd July 2025)

July 23 2025 News

Written by: IRR News Team


ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY

10 July: A leaked cable suggests that the EU Commission’s coordinator on combating antisemitism opposed sanctions against Israel, claiming that starvation in Gaza and other war crimes were ‘rumours’ and antisemitic’ and that ‘ambient antisemitism’, or ‘creating an atmosphere where Jews feel uncomfortable’, was manifested by EU officials baking cakes to fundraise for the Red Cross. (Brave New Europe, 10 July 2025) 

10 July: Following the arrest of a refugee accused of rape, Spain’s far-right Vox party spokesperson for demographic emergency and social care calls for the deportation (‘remigration’) of up to eight million people, including children of immigrants, saying ‘it is very difficult for them to get used to our customs’. Under pressure from other parties, Vox backtracks on the numbers. (Irish Times, 10 July 2025)

13 July: FOI requests reveal that the 10 councils run by Reform UK have fewer than 0.5 diversity and equality roles, which the party promised to abolish in order to save money, mirroring the Doge unit in the US. (Guardian, 13 July 2025)

13 July: In a recording for X, the Polish minister of foreign affairs condemns escalating campaigns of racism and antisemitism. The recent ‘anti-immigrant hysteria harms Poland’, he says, ‘awakens the worst demons’, with ‘Holocaust denial’ excluding ‘us from civilised nations’. (Euronews, 13 July 2025)

15 July: One year after the riots, a British Futures and Belong Network ‘State of Us’ social cohesion report says that the UK is a ‘powder keg’ of social tensions and that, without urgent action to address polarisation and division, unrest could be reignited, as 31 percent of adults rarely or never met people from different backgrounds. (Guardian, 15 July 2025)

17 July: Diane Abbott is suspended from the Labour party for the second time after she says on Newsnight that ‘it’s silly to try and claim that racism about skin colour is the same as other types of racism’. (Guardian, 17 July 2025)

17 July: Conservative MPs in Epping call on the government to close the Bell Hotel, used to accommodate asylum seekers and targeted for anti-immigrant protests. The Refugee Council says the government should speed up plans to end the use of hotels, a ‘flashpoint for tension in communities’. (Guardian, 17 July 2025)

18 July: Leaders of French far-right electoral parties describe a court ruling that all Palestinians in Gaza are eligible for asylum as ‘pure madness’, an example of ‘uncontrolled immigration’ (Marine Le Pen, National Rally) and ‘security and migratory madness’ (Eric Ciotti, Union of the Right for the Republic). ‘Millions of Muslims will enter the country’, says Eric Zemmour of Reconquête. (TRT Global, 18 July 2025).

21 July: As anti-migrant protests outside an Essex hotel, attended by far-right figures fomenting violence, go into a second week, shadow home secretary Chris Philp claims that women and girls face a ‘public safety crisis’ due to the crimes of ‘illegal immigrants’. (Guardian, 22 July 2025) 

ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT

(For far-right actions at the Bell Hotel, Epping, see also section on racial violence)

11 July: The PSNI, launching an investigation into a ‘possible hate crime’, declines to intervene to stop loyalists in County Tyrone from lighting a bonfire topped with mannequins of dark-skinned migrants in a boat. Paramilitary groups had warned of ‘widespread disorder’ if the bonfire was not lit. (RTÉ, 11 July 2025; Guardian, 11 July 2025)

13 July: Violent clashes erupt in Torre-Pacheco, Spain, as far-right groups wearing extremist symbols clash with North African migrants after an elderly man is attacked. Five people are injured, one arrested, and government representative Mariola Guevara condemns the far Right for spreading hate speech and inciting violence. (US News, 13 July 2025)

15 July: A violent protest outside the Bell Hotel, housing asylum seekers in Epping, takes place after a resident is charged with sexual assaults. The far Right, which has a significant local presence and is vocal on community Facebook groups, is central to the protest. (Metro, 15 July 2025, Guardian, 17 July 2025

17 July: Britain First supporters are amongst far-right activists at a ‘Protect Our Kids’ anti-immigration rally outside the Bell Hotel, Epping. Counter-protesters are pelted with projectiles. Police, also drafted in from Norfolk and Suffolk, are attacked and police vans vandalised. Earlier, an asylum seeker charged with sexual assaults appeared in court. Six people are subsequently arrested. (Guardian, 17 July 2025; BBC News, 20 July 2025)

18 July: A ‘Great British National Protest’ is held in Dover against asylum seekers arriving in small boats. Organised by ex-British Army soldier Richard Donaldson who denies far-right connections, the flag of Patriotic Alternative  was photographed at the demonstration which was attended by two Reform Kent county councillors. (Guardian, 23 July 2025, Kent Online, 22 July 2025)

19 July: Thousands join anti-immigration marches across Poland, organised by the far-right Confederation party, demanding closed borders and warning against unchecked immigration. Justice minister Adam Bodnar expresses concern over racially motivated assaults, while interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak promises police will respond firmly to any violence. Anti-fascist groups organise counter-protests to support immigrants and reject what they call a dangerous wave of nationalism and hate. (Notes From Poland, 19 July 2025; Polskie Radio, 19 July 2025)

21 July:  An anti-asylum protest, opposed by anti-fascists, is held outside the Park Hotel, Diss, Norfolk. Around  60 protesters, including supporters of Tommy Robinson and Students Against Tyranny, shout ‘we want our country back’ and anti-migrant slogans. The conservative leader of South Norfolk Council calls on the Home Office to reverse an ‘unnecessary decision’ to house single male asylum seekers alongside families at the hotel. (Diss Mercury, 22 July 2025, Yahoo News, 23 July 2025)

22 July: After Reform UK Tower Hamlets & Newham Branch chairman Lee Nallalingham tweets that the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf has been ‘handed over for use by asylum seekers and refugees’, and social media is awash with rumours, the Territorial Support Group is mobilised to deal with an anti-migrant protest. (Daily Express, 23 July 2025) 

ANTI-TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY

16 July: A report by the interim independent reviewer of Prevent concludes that the scheme missed chances to protect the public from the Southport killer of three children and the man who killed MP Sir David Amess, and recommends expanding it to include ‘individuals who have no fixed ideology but a fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks’. (Guardian, 16 July 2025)

20 July: The bank accounts of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Greater Manchester Friends for Palestine are frozen indefinitely by Unity Trust and Virgin Money banks respectively. Unity Trust cited the fact that SPSC had a button on its website to donate to Palestine Action before the group was banned on 5 July; although the button has been removed, the bank continues to block access to funds. (Guardian, 20 July 2025)

POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

9 July: The Bar Council and the Law Society criticise recommendations made in the Leveson report to restrict the right to jury trial for a number of offences and create a new division of the crown court in which a judge and two magistrates decide on cases previously tried by jury. Leveson denies that his recommendations would disadvantage people of colour and lead to more miscarriages of justice. (Guardian, 9 July 2025) 

12 July: After the Swedish government announces that it will rent 600 cells in Estonian jails to deal with overcrowding, with more proposals on youth detention and lowering the age of criminal responsibility expected, criminal justice experts accuse the government of pandering to the far Right and following US policies of mass incarceration. (Guardian, 12 July 2025)

12 July: Police arrest around 70 people participating in demonstrations in London, Manchester and Cardiff for allegedly holding signs supporting Palestine Action. (Guardian, 12 July 2025)

17 July: Errol Campbell, who died in 2004, is cleared posthumously at the Court of Appeal for a South London theft conviction that was based on the testimony of a corrupt British Transport Police officer. In a separate case relating to the same corrupt officer, Ronald De’Souza, the final member of the Stockwell Six, is cleared nearly 50 years after he was framed. (Evening Standard, 17 July 2025; Sky News, 17 July 2025)

18 July: Avon and Somerset police, who carried out a ‘terrorism investigation’ into Kneecap following its performance at Glastonbury, announce no further action. Kneecap say the investigation amounted to ‘state intimidation’ of pro-Palestinian sentiment. (Al Jazeera, 18 July 2025)

18 July: In the third arrest under the Terrorism Act in Glasgow, Scotland, a man is arrested for holding a paper stating ‘genocide in Palestine, time to take action’, with the words Palestine and action larger than others. (Guardian, 19 July 2025)

18 July: In Italy, a 58-year-old Romanian man, who was being held in solitary confinement, is found dead in Prata prison in La Dogaia, Tuscany, with investigators not ruling out homicide. (ANSA, 18 July 2025)

19 July: A specialist squad of riot police is despatched to Limoges, south-western France, after police use tear gas to disperse hundreds of men armed with bars, bats and Molotov cocktails who tried to block a major road in what authorities claimed was a ‘gang turf war’ linked to an ‘urban guerrilla group’. Police describe the poor immigrant neighbourhood of Val de l’Aurence, also a site of unrest a week before, as a ‘lawless zone’. (Le Monde, 19 July 2025; RFI, 20 July 2025)

19 July: More than 100 people are arrested across the UK at protests related to the proscription of Palestine Action and coordinated by Defend Our Juries. (Guardian, 19 July 2025)

ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP

Asylum and migrant rights

11 July: France’s national asylum court rules that all Palestinian nationals coming from Gaza are refugees because of Israel’s ‘methods of war’, which put all Palestinian lives in danger. (RFI, 12 July 2025)

14 July: The Home Office resumes decision-making on Syrian asylum claims following a seven-month pause and publishes five new country reports that indicate its view that only Alawites and Assad supporters face real risks of persecution in Syria. (EIN, 14 July 2025)

14 July: A High Court judge lifts a superinjunction preventing publication of a 2023 data leak by the MoD revealing details of tens of thousands of Afghans who had applied for resettlement because of the risk they faced from the Taliban after helping the UK. A secret relocation scheme brought a small number to the UK before all Afghan schemes closed on 1 July. Thousands on the list and in danger remain stuck in Afghanistan. (Guardian, 15 July 2025; Observer, 20 July 2025)

15 July: The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission warns that the International Protection Bill greatly expands powers of detention and surveillance of asylum seekers, who could be ‘effectively criminalised’ in some cases. (Irish Examiner, 15 July 2025)

Borders and internal controls

10 July: Prime minister Keir Starmer announces a pilot agreement with French president Macron to return a small number of ‘small boat’ asylum seekers to France each week in exchange for taking an equal number from France who have family in the UK. Starmer hails the plan as a deterrent to irregular crossing. (Guardian, 10 July 2025)

10 July: A Statewatch report reveals the growing role of EU border agency Frontex in West African countries such as Mali, Niger, Senegal and Mauritania, where it implements the EU’s border externalisation strategy through funding and equipping local agencies for surveillance, real-time monitoring of migration routes and biometric ID systems, with the EU engaging coercive measures such as aid instrumentalisation and visa sanctions to ensure compliance. (Statewatch, 10 July 2025)

Frontex is attempting to build a border regime in West Africa that prioritises European interests. But some Sahelian states are fighting back and severing ties with former colonial powers. Our new report with @statewatch.bsky.social‬ sheds light on these dynamics. www.tni.org/en/publicati…

[image or embed]

— Transnational Institute (@tninstitute.bsky.social) 10 July 2025 at 08:19

11 July: The Greek parliament approves a suspension of asylum claims from people arriving by sea from Libya, as it seeks collaboration with the Libyan coastguard to turn back boats at sea, a process ruled unlawful by the ECtHR. (EuroNews, 11 July 2025)

15 July: It is revealed that in March 2024, Italian authorities waited 40 hours after a warning from Frontex before issuing an emergency alert for a boat with around 80 passengers adrift in the Mediterranean, a delay leading to around 60 deaths, according to a charity whose SAR vessel conducted a rescue operation. (EU Observer, 15 July 2025)

16 July: In the European Commission’s €1.98 trillion six-year post-2027 budget, €74 billion is dedicated to ‘making Europe safer and more secure’, of which two-thirds, €48 billion, is for border protection and police, and €26 billion to migration management including asylum reception. Human rights groups point to the emphasis on militarising borders at the expense of asylum and inclusion. (Euronews, 16 July 2025)

22 July: Following a raid on a Surrey fish and chip shop resulting in a £40,000 fine for the owner, who inadvertently accepted forged documents as evidence of an employee’s right to work in the UK, ministers are urged to reduce fines for small businesses, which could be forced to close for innocent mistakes. (Guardian, 22 July 2025)

22 July: Foreign secretary David Lammy announces that all those involved in assisting illegal entry, including corrupt foreign officials, producers of false passports and middlemen transferring cash, will face bans on entry to the UK and asset freezes in a crackdown which refugee organisations say will have only a marginal effect on the trade. (Guardian, 22 July 2025; BBC, 22 July 2025)

Reception and detention 

9 July: The Helen Bamber Foundation finds that hundreds of children continue to be wrongly assessed as adults and placed in detention or with strangers in adult accommodation. (HBF, 9 July 2025)

13 July: A report by London Councils says lone children seeking asylum in London ‘experience adversity daily’, and need better protection and support. (BBC, 13 July 2025)

15 July: An official report reveals that government spending on asylum accommodation rose from £628m in 2020 to £4.3bn in 2023 – three times as much per asylum seeker as in other major European states due to ‘poor value’ hotel accommodation – and warns that reception costs could absorb one-fifth of the reduced overseas aid budget. (ICAI, 15 July 2025) 

Deportations 

18 July: Interior ministers of Germany, France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, together with the EU home affairs commissioner, agree new policies (to be approved by the EU) allowing member states to transfer rejected asylum seekers to secure centres outside the EU and enable asylum procedures in third countries (offshoring). (Reuters, 18 July 2025)

21 July: The German government, which carried out the first deportations to Afghanistan since 2021 on 18 July, removing over 80 Afghan nationals, approves the deployment of two Taliban consular officials in Germany to support regular deportation flights. (Euractiv, 21 July 2025) 

Crimes of solidarity

17 July: 32 organisations from across Europe sign an open letter calling on Italy to end its ‘systematic obstruction’ of NGOs’ search and rescue missions. In the past month, SAR vessels have been detained three times for alleged breaches of a new legal code, which the organisations say deliberately keeps them out of the central Mediterranean, causing countless deaths. (Statewatch, 17 July 2025)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION

18 July: The Charity Commission is criticised after the revelation that it has approved the transfer of millions of pounds from a UK-based charity to an illegal Israeli settlement on the West Bank on the grounds that the donations were for a school and that issues of illegal settlements and that allegations of war crimes by individuals in the charity were not its concern. (Guardian, 18 July 2025)

HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE

9 July: The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities expresses concern that the Welfare Bill will ‘deepen the signs of regression’ and asks the government what measures it will take to address the ‘foreseeable risk of increasing poverty’ among disabled people if the cuts are approved. (The I paper, 9 July 2025) 

10 July: The Boaz Trust reports on a Greater Manchester pilot scheme to prevent homelessness among recent refugees, From surviving to thriving, with recommendations for government including an eight-week move-on period after the grant of status. (Boaz Trust, 10 July 2025)

11 July: A Heriot-Watt University analysis of English statutory homelessness data finds that homeless Black families are less than half as likely to gain social housing than their white counterparts, with evidence that BME people, and refugees in particular, feel compelled to disguise their ethnic identity and migration status to access housing. (Independent, 11 July 2025)

EMPLOYMENT| EXPLOITATION| INDUSTRIAL ACTION

17 July: Research published in Nature finds that the wage gap between a native-born worker and a first generation migrant in Germany is 19.6 percent, stemming mainly from unequal access to higher-paying sectors, which extends down generations. (Deutsche Welle, 17 July 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.

8 July: Online hate is surging across Europe, with the European Commission warning that countries like Sweden and Portugal must do more to tackle racist and anti-LGBTQ+ abuse. A new report finds that over 2.5 million toxic posts were shared in May alone, most of them on X, with antisemitic and anti-Roma content scoring highest in severity. (Euronews, 8 July 2025)

10 July: Kneecap say they have been banned from advertising on the London Underground after Transport for London rejected a poster featuring their balaclava-style logo. TfL says the image, promoting a September concert, would likely cause ‘widespread or serious offence’ to reasonable members of the public. (BBC News, 10 July 2025)

11 July: Sweden’s migration minister Johan Forssell says he is ‘shocked and horrified’ after learning his teenage son was involved with violent far-right groups through social media, including efforts to recruit others. Far-right extremists have long maintained an online presence in Sweden, often targeting teenage boys through mainstream platforms before moving to private channels. Forssell calls it a wake-up call for parents to pay closer attention to their children’s digital lives. (Euronews, 11 July 2025)

12 July: Elon Musk’s AI company xAI deletes antisemitic posts generated by its chatbot Grok, which praised Hitler, called itself ‘MechaHitler’, and echoed far-right conspiracy theories. The company blames a recent system update that made Grok mimic extremist user content and has since issued an apology, calling the bot’s behaviour ‘horrific’ and pledging fixes to prevent future abuse. (Guardian, 9 July 2025; Guardian, 12 July 2025)

14 July: BBC director general Tim Davie admits to a ‘significant failing’ surrounding a Gaza documentary after an internal review found viewers were not told the 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official. Experts criticise the BBC’s lack of editorial oversight, while culture secretary Lisa Nandy condemns a ‘series of catastrophic failures’ and calls for accountability. The broadcaster has announced tighter editorial controls and faces further scrutiny from Ofcom and parliament. (Guardian, 14 July 2025)

15 July: Research by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate finds that more than 4,300 posts promoting violence against Muslims and immigrants were sent in the past year in reply to tweets by half a dozen high-profile account holders, including Tommy Robinson, Andrew Tate and Laurence Fox, and that X remains the crucial hub for ‘hate-filled lies and incitement of violence targeting migrants and Muslims’. (Guardian, 15 July 2025)

“One year on from the Southport riots, X remains the crucial hub for hate-filled lies and incitement of violence targeting migrants and Muslims.”

Our CEO @imranahmed.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on our new report ⤵️

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— Center for Countering Digital Hate (@counterhate.com) 19 July 2025 at 18:54

16 July: GAA Palestine cancels a planned youth tour to Ireland after visa applications are denied by Ireland’s Department of Justice. Irish officials say the group’s appeal came too late and that visa rules must be applied consistently. GAA Palestine, criticising the Irish government for delays, poor communication, and lack of engagement, calls the outcome ‘beyond devastating’ for the children, and will now seek a destination where they will be ‘welcomed and celebrated’. (Ireland Independent, 16 July 2025)

 17 July: Voluntary associations, citing the proscription of Palestine Action, express scepticism about the government’s new ‘civil society covenant’, which says that charities have a right to engage in political activity and protest peacefully and promises them a formal partnership role in designing and fulfilling the government’s missions to achieve economic growth and tackle social problems. (Guardian, 17 July 2025) 

18 July: Experts say that disinformation circulating on social media directly fuelled recent anti-migrant riots in Torre Pacheco, Spain, where false claims spread from Telegram to X and TikTok before being amplified by far-right figures. The unrest followed online calls for violence and was backed by politicians like those from Vox, who used the chaos to push anti-immigrant narratives. (France24, 18 July 2025)

20 July: Jess Carter steps back from social media after receiving racist abuse following England’s Euro 2025 quarter-final win. The FA has contacted police and social media platforms, and the Lionesses will cease to take the knee before matches, saying the gesture no longer feels effective. Teammate Lucy Bronze says the abuse left the team feeling ‘angry and sad’ and calls for stronger action against online racism. (Independent, 20 July 2025)

RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

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

13 July: Several people are injured in anti-migrant violence in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco, Murcia, in a second night of unrest, as groups armed with batons hunted foreigners following a demonstration organised by the town hall after a pensioner said he had been beaten up by North African youths. (Guardian, 13 July 2025)

15 July: A Housing Executive van is daubed with racist graffiti stating ‘House the Irish not w**s and Traitors’ in Andersonstown, West Belfast. The letters RAA (Republicans Against Antifa) is daubed on the van. (Belfast Media, 15 July 2025)

 15 July: A police investigation into a racially motivated attack is launched after two security staff were mistaken for migrants and received serious injuries outside the Bell Hotel, housing asylum seekers in Epping. They were set upon by a group of men who shouted ‘go home you c***’. (Metro, 15 July 2025; Guardian, 17 July 2025) 

19 July: On a Dublin city bus in Ireland, a Jewish passenger is assaulted. His assailant claims to be able to identify Jews by their faces, shouts antisemitic slurs, and accuses him of being complicit in ‘the genocide of Palestinians’. (Ynet News, 19 July 2025)

19 July: In Northern Ireland, the housing executive says that during the recent racist riots in Ballymena, 74 households had sought assistance, with 21 placed in temporary accommodation. (Guardian, 19 July 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, 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.

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