Latest news with #antiImmigration
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Irish fury over asylum crisis: How resentment is boiling over nationwide, with thousands attending latest anti-migrant protests following huge surge in refugees and country's pro-Palestine, anti-Israel stance
Thousands took to the streets of Cork over the weekend for two very different demonstrations - one a pro-Palestine march and the other described as a 'national protest for Ireland'. Some 3,000 people joined the latter, an anti-immigration rally organised by Ireland Says No - which attendees said signalled a feeling in the country that 'enough is enough'. Protesters, describing themselves as Irish patriots and nationalists, said they have two main grievances - 'mass migration' and a belief that they have been forgotten by the government. Footage of the march shows a sea of tricolour flags raised above the crowds, with chants including 'Ireland for the Irish' and 'Whose streets? Our streets!'. The rally's lead organiser, ultra-nationalist Dublin councillor Malachy Steenson, said that the size of the crowd would instill confidence in people who were concerned about airing their criticisms. 'We don't care what Brussels says,' he told the crowd, 'we are going to take this country and run it for the benefit of its people.' Speaking before local elections in November, he stated his view on how he felt this could be achieved: 'We need to close the borders and stop any more migrants coming in.' Recent figures show that Ireland is housing more than 33,000 applicants for what is known as 'international protection', up from 7,244 in 2017. According to official statistics, the number of Palestinians who applied in 2024 increased by more than 700 per cent from the previous year - when the conflict in Gaza erupted. The Irish government has been vocal in its support of the Palestinian people, officially recognising the Palestinian state last year and formally intervening in South Africa's International Court of Justice case alleging genocide by Israel in Gaza. Both decisions drew condemnation from Israel. The Irish government was asked whether its show of support would strengthen Palestinian asylum claims, but refused to comment. The protests in Cork passed peacefully on Saturday, with police dividing the two marches with a barrier and organisers of each encouraging marchers to behave responsibly. Speaker Derek Blighe, the former president of the Ireland First party who failed to get elected to the Dail in November, told crowds that young Irish people felt they had no choice but to leave the country. He accused the government of putting 'diversity and climate and foreigners first' and said that nationalists wanted to give the Irish diaspora 'a homeland to return to'. As many as 150,000 people moved to Ireland in 2023-24, Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures revealed, the highest number in 17 years. Around 30,000 of these were returning Irish citizens. In terms of asylum seekers, alongside arrivals from Africa and the Middle East, 100,000 refugees flocked to the country following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Each costs the country nearly £70 a day, according to estimates - a figure that has increased by a third in two years. Last month, around a thousand people joined a march in County Donegal's Letterkenny, while several hundred organised a counter-protest. Local independent councillor Seamus Treanor said people living in his ward did not feel safe in their own homes due to heightened levels of anti-social behaviour. 'I want to get one thing straight - the reason we have a housing problem in this county is because our government opened our borders, and invited the whole third world to come in. 'They came in their tens of thousands, and communities like Carrickmacross are suffering the consequences.' At the end of last year the Irish Refugee Council revealed there were a record 3,001 asylum seekers homeless in Ireland. Pictures of encampments in Dublin and reports last year that a former paint factory was being turned into accommodation for 550 asylum seekers sparked fury among anti-immigration campaigners. Gardai clashed with hundreds of people at the former Crown Paints factory in Coolock last July. A number of fires were started at the site and dramatic photos showed a digger in flames. The police force charged 15 people in relation to the public order incidents at the north Dublin site. In November 2023, right wing figures including MMA star Conor McGregor ramped up fury over online misinformation and unsubstantiated rumours that a Algerian migrant had stabbed three children outside a kindergarten in Dublin. Riots exploded in the city, with a bus and tram torched and property destroyed as around 500 thugs rampaged across the city. Some of the rioters started a fire on the ground floor of a Holiday Inn Express following rumours that migrants were staying there. Others reportedly petrol-bombed a nearby refugee centre, with fire crews who responded being 'pelted with projectiles' and beaten with iron rods. Police officers were also attacked, with around 50 sustaining injuries, while one cab driver was punched and dragged from his taxi. To date, 85 people have been arrested in connection with the November 2023 riots, with 66 charged. While anti-immigration protests in Ireland have been peaceful in recent weeks, Dublin saw another wave of violence in February, again seemingly fuelled by anger over migration levels. Shocking videos showed Dublin descending into chaos - with knife fights on the streets and mass brawls erupting in residential roads. There were similar scenes of violence in Northern Ireland on Monday night. Anti-immigration riots erupted in Ballymena after two teenagers of Romanian descent appeared in court accused of attempting to rape a local girl. Social media footage showed homes in Co Antrim on fire after a masked mob lit curtains after windows and doors of terraced properties in the town were caved in. Four houses were destroyed after 2,500 people gathered in the Harryville area. Two more properties were also damaged and 15 police officers hospitalised. Police have said the violence is being investigated as racially-motivated hate attacks.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Earthquake felt by thousands rattles California as anti-ICE raid protests hit San Francisco
Thousands of Californians were rattled by an earthquake Sunday evening. The US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a magnitude 3.3 quake at 9:30pm PT (12:30am ET), centered about 22 miles north of San Francisco. More than 4,100 people reported feeling the tremor, with reports stretching as far north as Vallejo. The epicenter was located in Pinole, near the Hayward Fault, a 74-mile fault line that runs along the base of the East Bay hills. While the 800-mile-long San Andreas Fault typically draws the most attention in seismic research, scientists warn that the Hayward Fault may also be overdue for a major event. Experts say there is growing concern about the potential for an earthquake greater than magnitude 7.0 in the coming years — the last time it blew was 1886. A USGS simulation known as the HayWired Scenario suggests that a magnitude 7.0 quake on the Hayward Fault could cause between 800 and 2,500 deaths across major Bay Area cities such as San Francisco and Oakland. The smaller Sunday quake hit around the same time as anti-immigration raid protests filled the streets of San Francisco. At least 60 people were arrested Sunday evening after the demonstration turned violent. Shaking from the earthquake was reportedly felt about 20 miles south as protests erupted in downtown San Francisco. There have been no reports of injuries or damages as a result of the earthquake but, according to the 4,194 people who reported feeling shaking. The quake came hours before crowds hit the streets of San Francisco in what they say was solidarity with protests in Los Angeles. The protest was said to have begun peacefully at 6pm PT near a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Sansome Street, but the crowd became tense as it stood toe-to-toe with police. Officers began making arrests several hours later after protestors started vandalizing buildings and shattering windows. Mayor Daniel Lurie said: 'Everyone in this country has a right to make their voice heard peacefully, and local law enforcement will always protect that right and the rights of everyone in our city to be safe. 'But we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior. … Violence directed at law enforcement or public servants is never acceptable.' Local reports suggested those marching in San Francisco wanted to show solidarity with the protests in Los Angeles. At least three officers have been injured. Nancy Kato, a protester in San Francisco, told ABC 7News: 'We've been watching what's going on in LA, and we're like, no. 'The whole thing about going after immigrants and people who are undocumented, the most vulnerable of our populations that is so wrong.' The protests in Los Angeles broke out on Friday, triggered by immigration raids that resulted in dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members. Tensions escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of four million people, were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble. Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Trump responded to McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks.
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
France's Le Pen hosts Europe allies in show of far-right unity
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was Monday hosting key allies from across Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a bid to flaunt the unity and strength of the anti-immigration wing of European politics. The get-together in the bucolic countryside of Mormant-sur-Vernisson in the Loiret region south of Paris is ostensibly aimed at marking one year since Le Pen's National Rally (RN) crushed opponents to win their best-ever vote share in European elections. But the meeting is also a show of force from political factions that are increasingly buoyant in the wake of Donald Trump's return to the White House earlier this year and strong election results across the continent. Others attending as well as Orban include Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the League party Matteo Salvini, the leader of Spain's Vox party Santiago Abascal and former Czech premier Andrej Babis. They are all part of the Patriots for Europe faction in the European parliament, one of no less than three competing far-right factions in the chamber. 'The winds of change are gathering,' Orban wrote on X late Sunday after the leaders met in the Chateau of Fontainebleau nearby to coordinate their positions. 'Different Europe' The meeting also comes less than two years ahead of watershed presidential elections in France where President Emmanuel Macron, who has long promoted himself as a bulwark against the far right, cannot stand again and the RN sees its best ever chance of taking power. But it is far from certain if Le Pen will stand for a fourth time after her conviction earlier this year in a fake jobs scandal disqualifies her from standing from public office. She has appealed. But waiting in the wings is her protege and RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 29, who would stand if Le Pen was ineligible. Asked whether he hoped Le Pen would be elected president in two years, Orban reaffirmed his famous vow to drink champagne if Trump was elected: 'Oh yes, I think it would be a magnum, more, more, more champagne that I could drink!' Orban told France's LCI TV in an interview broadcast late Sunday. Bardella, who polls have shown would still be set to win the first round of presidential elections if he stands, is taking care to project his image including a long TV interview with star anchor Karine Le Marchand aimed at showing his softer side. He hailed the meeting saying it was for a 'Europe of Nations, of peoples, of freedoms, of protections, of identities, of production and innovation, of farmers and entrepreneurs!' Writing on X, Italy's Salvini added they were 'working for a Europe different from the current one, of the people and not of bureaucrats, a friend and not an enemy of businesses, which does not invest in weapons but is committed to peace.' As well as Le Pen's legal limbo the contours of the French 2027 presidential election remain largely unclear, with center-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe the only major player to clearly state he will stand.
Telegraph
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Reform will get tough on profiteering migrant landlords
May 1, 2025, will go down as the most important set of local elections in our country's history. The stranglehold the two old parties have had on British politics for a century has finally been broken. A party that had no MPs and managed to stand candidates in just 12 per cent of the seats up for election a year ago won 31 per cent of the vote share and 42 per cent of the seats. Reform now controls 10 English councils, and counts the Mayors of Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire among its ranks. Reform has a walloping mandate to do everything in its power to reverse the tide of anti-British, climate alarmist, pro-immigration ideology that has assailed the British people for decades. We are realistic. We have no magic wand. The levers of power available to our councillors in local government are dwarfed by those at the disposal of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. This is a battle between David and Goliath. But so were the local elections. Reform's elected officials will display unflinching resolve to heave those levers of powers available to them with all their might. One arena of battle in which you will see this is that of the dispersal of illegal migrants into local communities at the behest of Yvette Cooper. Make no mistake, this is ground zero of the betrayal of British people. In an act of Bond-villain wickedness, Section 21 eviction notices are being served on British tenants, including veterans with post traumatic stress disorder, by landlords gleefully gorging on the banquet being served up to them. That feast comprises seven-year tenancy agreements, 15 to 20 per cent above market rates. So local communities are facing the parachuting in of illegal migrants – often young men from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan – into their neighbourhoods. British tenants are being turfed out. Those evicted are placed in hotels by councils with no chance of long-term housing. Some boroughs say the wait could be 100 years. And all of this is being funded by those same communities. It is betrayal on a biblical scale, and it makes our blood boil. Reform has formed a legal team to help our councillors fight back. We have a leading KC, flanked by elite lawyers. All are working free of charge to resist this inhuman agenda. There are many aspects of law which are being wantonly broken by this Government, like the Tories before them. Many migrants are being housed in hotels, which must apply for planning permission to be turned into 'hostels'. This is a material change of use. Do not let the hostel term mislead you – that's simply a technical planning term. Many of these accommodations are quite lovely four star properties with pools and gyms. There is legal precedent for the battles we will fight on behalf of the British people. Great Yarmouth in 2022 had an injunction upheld and the local community was spared. Nowhere near enough communities have had high agency, patriotic political representatives willing to actually stand up for their constituents in this way. That changed on May 1. It's equally clear that councils have been routinely failing to enforce the myriad of regulations around Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs). This will change. If you are a landlord in a Reform-controlled council and considering betraying your country by accepting a golden government contract to house illegal migrants in HMOs, you can expect rules to be enforced. Expect inspections to check your compliance with CCTV in communal areas, bin-storage rules, proof of regular PAT testing of electrical appliances and on anti-social-behaviour. Rules are rules. Labour's Cabinet, like the Etonian coterie that preceded them, are insulated from any of these realities. They could not care less. The deep irony of all this is that Angela Rayner barely goes a week without claiming to be a champion of 'renters' rights'. Labour is set to ban Section 21 next year. Yet today, it's being weaponised to clear out our own citizens for gilt-edged private deals to provide migrant accommodation. Reform stands with British tenants, veterans, and working families – the very people this broken system has betrayed. As Prime Minister, Nigel Farage will lead a rejuvenation of the United Kingdom which has been utterly demoralised by endlessly incompetent and self-hating politicians. Britain can once again be the proud, prosperous and powerful nation it once was. On May 1, millions voted for Reform because they want us to represent them, to fight for them, locally. We know we are the last stand against the madness that has afflicted this country's corridors of power for decades. Accordingly, the fightback has begun.
