ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY
12 November: The Norwegian parliament apologises unreservedly to minority groups and Indigenous people for over a century of injustices caused by its ‘Norwegianisation’ policy. (Guardian, 12 November 2024)
13 November: Speaking in the Dutch parliament, far-right PVV leader Geert Wilders recommends cancelling the Dutch passports of those convicted of involvement in the violence in Amsterdam that followed a Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax football fixture, and deporting those with dual nationality. (Alarabiya News, 13 November 2024)
13 November: Italian president Sergio Mattarella tells Elon Musk to stop meddling in politics after Musk said the judges who blocked migrant transfers to Albania should be ‘sent packing’. (CNN, 13 November 2024)
14 November: The UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories accuses foreign secretary David Lammy of being a ‘genocide denier’ and says that Britain has done nothing to prevent atrocities in Gaza. (Middle East Eye, 14 November 2024)
16 November: Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof declares there ‘is no racism in the government’, after junior minister Nora Achahbar resigns, alleging ministers made denigrating and polarising comments against immigrants following Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv football fixture. (Deutsche Welle, 16 November 2024)
19 November: The mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands, calls a news conference to express regret at using the term ‘pogrom’ to describe violence following the Maccabi Tel Aviv/Ajax football fixture. She says her words were manipulated to serve political agendas nationally and internationally, and ‘we were completely caught off guard by Israel’. (Euronews, 19 November 2024)
19 November: In a document leaked to the Finnish media naming Christians as ‘a preference of the political leadership’, the Finns party-led interior ministry argues that Christians should be a priority category in the 2025 refugee quota, as well as women, girls and nationalities that can, if necessary, ‘be returned to their home countries’. (Helsinki Times, 19 November 2024)
21 November: Thirteen civil society organisations representing the Moroccan community accuse Alterative for Germany MP Martin Sichert of inciting hatred after he connects Moroccans to unemployment and crime during a parliamentary debate about legalising cannabis, adding that unemployed Moroccans should be deported. (Hespress, 21 November 2024)
22 November: Keir Starmer rejects calls from a group of mayors from northern France to renegotiate the Le Touquet treaty to get rid of British border controls in France and open legal routes for migrants to get to the UK. (Independent, 22 November 2024)
23 November: Doctors criticise PVV health minister Fleur Agema after she says that foreign workers who come to the Netherlands for low-skilled work and then lose their jobs should return home to be treated for non-urgent health conditions, and that health care workers should assess their right to treatment. (Dutch News, 23 November 2024)
24 November: In the first round of the Romanian presidential elections, ultranationalist independent candidate Călin Georgescu, whose campaign focused on ending aid to Ukraine, comes first with 22.9% of the vote. The far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians comes fourth. (Guardian, 25 November 2024)
24 November: In Austria, the far-right Freedom party gains a landslide victory in the region of Styria (35%), making it the second state, after Carinthia, that the FPO has ever won. (Reuters, 24 November 2024)
ANTI-FASCISM AND THE FAR RIGHT
14 November: In France, Urgence Palestine and Jewish left associations rally in Paris to oppose a gala in support of the Israeli army organised by the far-right Israel is Forever movement on the eve of a France-Israel football fixture. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrick cancels his attendance after lawyers threaten to file a complaint for complicity in torture and genocide. (Le Monde, 14 November 2024)
17 November: The Guardian warns that Patriotic Alternative and Homeland are seeking to hijack farmers’ protests against the government’s proposed inheritance tax changes. Former TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson becomes a meme on far-right social media after claiming the government had a ‘sinister plan’ to ‘ethnically cleanse’ farmers. (Guardian, 17 November 2024)
POLICING| PRISONS| CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
12 November: The newly-formed All-Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice launches the Westminster Commission on Joint Enterprise. A JENGbA report based on family testimonies, In their own words, is also launched. (Justice Gap, 13 November 2024)
Another incredibly moving @JENGbA family meeting in Manchester last night.
It was a pleasure to speak with families affected about the launch of our Westminster Commission on #jointenterprise.
We must keep the pressure on the government to immediately address this injustice. pic.twitter.com/P3CioLOLTK
— Kim Johnson (@KimJohnsonMP) November 22, 2024
18 November: In response to a ‘damning report’ of its custody system, Greater Manchester Police stops strip searches conducted for ‘welfare or self-harm purposes’. (BBC News, 18 November 2024)
19 November: In Ireland, the Gardaí take the unprecedented step of publishing pictures of dozens of people suspected of taking part in violent disorder linked to anti-immigration sentiment in Dublin city centre in November 2023, with 57 people appearing in court so far. (Irish Independent, 19 November 2024)
20 November: In the first court case related to the November 2023 anti-immigrant riots in Ireland, Declan Donaghey is sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for attacking a migrant hostel and setting fire to a garda car. Shouting ‘scumbags’ upon sentencing, Donaghey argued that his brother, prior to the riots, had been attacked by foreign nationals and nothing had been done. (Irish Independent, 20 November 2024)
24 November: Friends, Families and Travellers criticise Greater Manchester Police after video footage circulates on social media showing officers violently restricting and over-policing young Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller children at a Christmas market and forcing them on to trains. (FFT, 24 November 2024, Guardian, 26 November 2024)
Yesterday’s actions by Greater Manchester Police must not go unanswered.
There is distressing footage showing extreme over-policing of young Romany and Irish Traveller children, who were violently forced onto trains and subjected to dispersal orders. (1) https://t.co/lKzxIN79I7
— Friends, Families & Travellers (@GypsyTravellers) November 24, 2024
24 November: In Portugal, the family of Odair Moniz, who was shot dead in October by police in Amadora, files a complaint against the police in connection with a raid on their home carried out while they were in mourning, resulting in material and psychological damage. (Portugal Resident, 24 November 2024)
25 November: As Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson faces investigation for incitement to racial hatred, former Met police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe joins Policy Exchange’s call for a government review of the police’s recording of non-crime hate incidents, claiming that they take up 60,000 hours of officers’ time each year and distract from the fight against crime. (Free Speech Union, 25 November 2024)
ASYLUM | MIGRATION| BORDERS| CITIZENSHIP
Asylum and migrant rights
12 November: The European Court of Human Rights condemns Switzerland for refusing asylum to a gay Iranian man, violating the ban on inhuman and degrading treatment, and orders compensation to him. (SwissInfo, 15 November 2024)
13 November: An Open Democracy analysis reveals that since responsibility for trafficking and modern slavery was transferred from safeguarding to the illegal immigration and asylum minister, foreign survivors struggle to access support and face deportation, while many British survivors are imprisoned. (Open Democracy, 13 November 2024)
21 November: The High Court rules that Home Office delays in dealing with applications for support from destitute migrants are unlawful and breach European Convention rights of protection from inhuman and degrading treatment. (EIN, 21 November 2024)
21 November: The Finnish government announces that residence permits for refugees will be shortened to three years, and rules governing them will be tightened, from January 2025. (Daily Finland, 21 November 2024)
26 November: The government announces a major increase in legal aid funding to clear the backlog of asylum claims, a fortnight after a report revealed that over half of applicants seeking asylum or appealing a refusal (at least 54,555 people) have no legal aid representation. (EIN, 26 November 2024; EIN, 12 November 2024)
Borders and internal controls
12 November: The Dutch coalition government, led by Geert Wilders of the far-right PVV, announces the introduction of border controls for six months from 9 December. (Euractiv, 12 November 2024)
13 November: Migrant rescue charity Sea-Watch files a criminal complaint of multiple manslaughter against the Italian coastguard, alleging that a two-day delay in going to assist a migrant boat in distress led to 21 deaths in a shipwreck. Three survivors and the son of one of the victims join the legal action. (Euronews, 13 November 2024)
14 November: The remains of a man are found washed up on the coast of northern France, the third such case in a few days and the twelfth since late October. All are believed to be migrants who attempted crossing to the UK. (InfoMigrants, 14 November 2024)
15 November: The Italian government amends its decree on sending rescued migrants to Albania by giving the Court of Appeal jurisdiction to hear appeals, instead of the Rome Migration Tribunal, believed to be too sympathetic to migrants. (ANSA, 15 November 2024)
17 November: In a Sky News interview, transport secretary Louise Haigh confirms that the government is negotiating deals with a number of countries, including Libya and Vietnam, to prevent people leaving to seek asylum. (Independent, 17 November 2024)
22 November: The Swedish government gives border guards powers to search migrants’ smartphones for evidence of destroyed passports, to make deportation easier. (Telegraph (£), 22 November 2024)
26 November: The Italian government begins withdrawing staff from its asylum processing centres in Albania, where not a single asylum seeker has yet been processed, as it awaits a definitive ruling from the European Court of Justice on who can designate countries as ‘safe’ for returns. (Forbes, 26 November 2024)
Reception and detention
12 November: Accommodated in an adult asylum hotel and assessed as an adult on his Home Office record, 16-year-old Amir Safi, an Afghani asylum seeker, dies after being run over on a motorway slip road. His roommate says Amir was ‘very low and would not talk’ following the age assessment where he was disbelieved. (Guardian, 13 November 2024)
12 November: The government plans to increase the capacity of the controversial ex-RAF base, MDP Wethersfield, Essex, to house up to 800 asylum seekers, despite Keir Starmer’s pre-election comment that it ‘needs to close’. (inews, 12 November 2024)
15 November: The National Audit Office finds that Robert Jenrick and Oliver Dowden backed plans for the ‘rushed and misjudged’ purchase of an asbestos-ridden former prison, HMP Northeye, for asylum accommodation in 2022, without basic due diligence checks. The site has been deemed unfit for its intended purpose because of widespread contamination. (Guardian, 15 November 2024; ITV, 15 November 2024)
18 November: HM Inspector of Prisons warns that health services at Brook House removal centre near Gatwick airport are ‘at breaking point’, with self-harm incidents doubling, over a third of detainees admitting to suicidal thoughts, and fights and assaults on staff increasing fivefold. (BBC, 18 November 2024)
22 November: Documents disclosed in a legal case reveal that 18,000 of the 29,000 people held for initial processing at Manston, Kent, between June and November 2022 were detained unlawfully, in horrific conditions, with Home Office officials admitting they ‘lost their grip’ on the centre. (Observer, 23 November 2024)
25 November: An Irish Refugee Council report says that the government has failed to provide for asylum seekers’ basic needs, leaving many homeless, at risk of violence and liable to be moved on repeatedly by gardaí. (Irish Times, 25 November 2024)
Deportations
23 November: The German government confirms that over 8,000 rejected asylum seekers have been given cash to leave the country so far this year in a voluntary returns programme launched in 1979. Rainer Rothfuß, leader of the Bavarian regional AfD, reportedly calls for the deportation of ‘groups of people with very little possibility of integrating properly in Germany’. (InfoMigrants, 25 November 2024)
Crimes of solidarity
14 November: SOS Méditerranée rejects accusations by the Italian interior ministry that it and other search-and-rescue NGOs are ‘sabotaging’ the Italy-Albania migrant deal by intercepting migrant boats before the naval vessel Libra, designated to transport migrants to Albania, reaches them. (Euractiv, 15 November 2024)
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.
12 November: Research conducted for the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) concludes that ‘educational performance worsened and youth crime increased’ following the closure of youth clubs in London. (IFS, 12 November 2024)
12 November: After protests led by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) moves a lecture by Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, to a smaller venue, cancelling about 100 tickets as a result and leading to criticism of both the ‘securitisation argument’ and the privileging of ‘a very tiny minority of Zionist voices’. (THE, 12 November 2024)
13 November: Sutton Trust research finds a ‘huge imbalance’ in the class background of students studying creative subjects at Russell Group universities, with smaller proportions of applications, offers, and acceptances to creative courses for Black students than at post-‘92 institutions. (Sutton Trust, 13 November 2024)
14 November: Applications for international student visas in October were 14% lower than last year, resulting in 16% fewer applications so far this year, Home Office statistics reveal. (THE, 14 November 2024)
18 November: A multi-signatory open letter to Keir Starmer, headed by The Diana Award, calls for a UK-wide implementation of ‘a whole-school approach to ensure racial discrimination does not hold young people back in the education and support systems’. (Guardian, 18 November 2024)
18 November: Students criticise University of Leicester authorities for ‘shameful escalation’ after they called police to break up a campus building occupation to protest the university’s support for companies that students say are implicated in the genocide in Gaza. (Leicester Mercury, 18 November 2024)
19 November: Professor Hakim Adi describes Birmingham City University’s decision to cancel its undergraduate Black Studies course as ‘thinly veiled racism’ and part of an alarming trend of attacks on Black academics and students. (Voice, 19 November 2024)
NEW: Black Studies course axed: Birmingham City Uni decision sparks claims of racism
Leading academic Hakim Adi condemned the scrapping of the course, calling it part of a troubling trend targeting Black academics and students
By @richardsudan https://t.co/sNqAPwWXC3
— The Voice Newspaper (@TheVoiceNews) November 19, 2024
21 November: New government data shows an increase of nearly 40% in both suspensions and exclusions for the autumn term of 2023-24 compared to the previous year, almost double the numbers from 2019-20. Exclusion and suspension rates were highest for Roma and Traveller pupils, followed by mixed white and Caribbean and Caribbean pupils. (TES, 21 November 2024)
21 November: The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) calls for ‘the power to investigate the way Education, Health and Care Plans are implemented in schools’; the ability to investigate issues around admission, exclusion or support for children with additional needs in school; and ‘mandatory signposting’ to the LGSCO at the end of any complaints process. (LGO, 21 November 2024)
21 November: A report by Manchester Metropolitan University and the NWG Network finds that ‘50-80% of young people who have experienced criminal and/or sexual exploitation have a Special Education Need or Disability (SEND) and recommends a ‘fundamental shift’ in safeguarding for students with SEND. (Guardian, 25 November 2024)
22 November: More than one in ten Scottish teachers in their probation year report having experienced bullying, harassment, racism or other discrimination. (TES, 22 November 2024)
23 November: A group of parents, councillors and community organisations calls upon Hackney City Council to conduct a Child Safeguarding Practice Review of its academy schools after publishing a dossier of allegations against Mossbourne Victoria Park academy, which was New Labour’s first ‘City Academy’. (Guardian, 23 November 2024)
ANTI-TERRORISM AND NATIONAL SECURITY
25 November: Palestine Action launches a fund to support families affected by police raids under the Terrorism Act and the arrest of ten activists targeting Israeli weapons supplier Elbit Systems. After being held in solitary confinement for four days, eight people are charged with non-terror offences. Families and flatmates were forced out of their homes for up to three days. (Chuffed.org, 25 November 2024; Morning Star, 20 November 2024)
HOUSING| POVERTY| WELFARE
14 November: In a new report, the No Accommodation Network (NACCOM) declares a ‘refugee homelessness emergency’ over a 99% rise in adult refugee homelessness in 2023-24 compared with the previous year, caused by gaps in statutory services and ‘hostile environment’ policies. Charities hand out tents and sleeping bags to 4,000 people, providing half a million nights of accommodation. (Guardian, 14 November 2024; Inside Housing, 18 November 2024)
24 November: Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall tells Sky TV that young people who refuse jobs or training will have sanctions on their benefits, while Keir Starmer writes in the Mail on Sunday that he vows to ‘get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society’. (Guardian, 24 November 2024)
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
19 November: A Runnymede Trust investigation into Islamophobia finds that in contact with the NHS, Muslims are eight times more likely to be referred to Prevent. (Runnymede Trust, 19 November 2024)
This summer’s racist riots were the clear outcome of intensifying Islamophobia in the UK.
Our new report shows that Islamophobia is growing, and highlights its structural nature across British society.
Read it here 👉 https://t.co/XnCdIthIEi pic.twitter.com/WSOO8ojeYD
— Runnymede Trust (@RunnymedeTrust) November 18, 2024
EMPLOYMEN| EXPLOITATION| INDUSTRIAL ACTION
12 November: A Work Rights Centre report on migrant care workers reveals that the Home Office granted sponsor licences to at least 177 companies with a recent record of work rights violations, in a sector marked by unsustainable working hours, low pay, persistent breaches of labour rights and a punitive visa regime. (Work Rights Centre, 12 November 2024)
CULTURE| MEDIA| SPORT
13 November: The Guardian announces that it will no longer post content on X, citing the far-right conspiracies and racist content found and promoted on the social media platform. (Guardian, 13 November 2024)
13 November: Media regulators in Ireland order social media platforms X, TikTok and Instagram to take ‘necessary measures’ to prevent terrorist content being platformed as investigations show insufficient intervention. (Guardian, 13 November 2024)
15 November: The Charity Commission is assessing a blog post by the Campaign Against Antisemitism which described as ‘obscene’ the government’s decision to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel, five months after the Commission’s investigation into political partisanship in the charity was dropped. (Guardian, 15 November 2024)
16 November: Following an outcry in the Times, Telegraph and Mail about its investigation of columnist Allison Pearson, the Essex police explain that the allegation involves the criminal offence of incitement to racial hatred, following a complaint that she posted ‘racist and inflammatory’ language. (Guardian, 16 November 2024)
17 November: Following X’s failure to remove posts targeting Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a disinformation campaign, the organisation announces that it is taking X to court in France, citing the platform’s complicity in disseminating false information, misrepresentation and identity theft. (IFEX, 17 November 2024)
18 November: A German architecture foundation rescinds a €10,000 award to James Bridle over the signing of an open letter promising to boycott Israeli cultural institutions, citing a controversial Bundestag resolution on antisemitism. (Guardian, 18 November 2024)
19 November: The Runnymede Trust publishes Islamophobia: the intensification of racism against Muslim communities in the UK, which links the summer 2024 racist riots with portrayals of British Muslims in popular discourse in relation to Gaza. (Runnymede Trust, 19 November 2024)
21 November: According to a YouGov poll, 53% of respondents think it appropriate for the British Museum to have a permanent display about Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. (Guardian 21 November 2024)
21 November: In response to a parliamentary select committee’s attempt to get him to testify about X’s role in spreading disinformation during the summer riots, Elon Musk says he will summon MPs to the US to ‘explain their censorship and threats to American citizens’. (Guardian, 21 November 2024)
22 November: Poland’s broadcasting regulator fines US-owned station TVN for inciting hatred and discrimination after a documentary criticises Catholic priest Tadeusz Rydzyk for statements with alleged racist and antisemitic overtones and for seeming to excuse child abuse in the church. (Notes from Poland, 22 November 2024)
23 November: Hope Not Hate’s Joe Mulhall states that four events promoting his book Rebel Sounds: Music as Resistance have been cancelled due to fears of far-right violence after National Front leader Tony Martin turned up at his London book launch. Authors and musicians voice alarm at the cancellations, including the BFI London Film Festival calling off a screening of a documentary on the far Right, Undercover. (Guardian, 23 November 2024; (Independent, 24 November 2024)
RACIAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT
For details of court judgements on racially motivated and other hate crimes, see also POLICING | PRISONS | CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
17 November: Launching the Runnymede Trust’s report on Islamophobia, CEO Shabna Begum calls Islamophobia ‘an acceptable currency’ in politics that creates a bleak and dystopian climate for Muslims, while failure to tackle it will lead to more riots. (Guardian, 17 November 2024)
20 November: Nearly three-quarters of Muslims surveyed by Tell Mama say that Islamophobia and hate have become more widespread since the August riots, and over 60% say that the risk of harm has increased. (Independent, 20 November 2024)
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.