Latest news with #antiimmigrant
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town
Hundreds of demonstrators from rival groups marched through a UK town on Sunday under tight police security amid tensions over anti-immigrant protests. It was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Epping, northeast of London, after an asylum seeker was charged earlier in July with three counts of sexual assault, including allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. But only about 400 people from rival groups demonstrated in the town, as police put in place a tight security operation, erecting barricades to keep them apart and banning the wearing of masks. Essex police said they had "a robust policing operation in place to protect our community and to deal swiftly with anyone intent on causing crime or violent disorder". Protestors gathered outside the Bell Hotel in the town, which has been used to house asylum seekers and refugees, despite pleas from the local council to close it down. "They're a threat. They don't know who they are, who they're allowing in these hotels, and basically they're putting everybody at danger", one protester, who identified herself only as Cathy, told AFP. There was also a counter-protest by the organisation Stand Up To Racism, who chanted "refugees are welcome here' and "Whose streets? Our streets". Three people were arrested Sunday but the protest went off "peacefully," Essex police said in a statement. The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK's worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons. Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fuelled by far-right activists. Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport. The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer -- a UK-born teenager whose family came to the country from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide -- was a migrant. Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year. vid-jkb/pdh/jj
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
5 men deported to eSwatini from US spark public outcry, protests
In the small African kingdom of eSwatini, the arrival of five men deported from the United States under Washington's aggressive anti-immigrant measures has sparked a rare wave of public dissent. The five nationals of Vietnam, Laos, Yemen, Cuba and Jamaica, were flown to Eswatini's administrative capital of Mbabane on July 16 on a US military plane and incarcerated after US authorities labelled them 'criminal illegal aliens'. The US Department of Homeland Security said the men were convicted of violent crimes 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.' The government of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has confirmed their presence. But spokesman Thabile Mdluli said they would not stay permanently and 'will be repatriated in due course to their different countries.' That assurance, though, has not quelled a tide of questions and concerns that have risen within the kingdom about the operation.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Questions swell in Eswatini over five men deported from US
MBABANE: In the small African kingdom of Eswatini, the arrival of five men deported from the United States under Washington's aggressive anti-immigrant measures has sparked a rare wave of public dissent. The five, nationals of Vietnam, Laos, Yemen, Cuba and Jamaica, were flown to Eswatini's administrative capital of Mbabane on July 16 on a US military plane and incarcerated after US authorities labelled them 'criminal illegal aliens.' The US Department of Homeland Security said the men were convicted of violent crimes 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.' The government of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has confirmed their presence. But spokesman Thabile Mdluli said they would not stay permanently, and 'will be repatriated in due course to their different countries.' That assurance, though, has not quelled a tide of questions and concerns that has risen within the kingdom about the operation. Civic and rights groups are wondering whether further deportees from the United States will arrive, and what rights the five men detained have. Public outrage at the lack of transparency led to 150 women protesting outside the US embassy in Mbabane on Friday. The protest, organized by the Eswatini Women's Movement, demanded the prisoners be returned to the United States and queried the legal basis Eswatini relied on to accept them. The five men are being held in the Matsapha Correctional Center, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Mbabane. The facility, notorious for holding political prisoners and overcrowding, has been undergoing renovations and expansions since 2018, reportedly funded by the United States as part of a program covering all 14 of the country's penal centers. Sources within the penitentiary administration said the men were being held in solitary confinement in a high-security section of the facility, with their requests to make phone calls being denied. The sources said the men have access to medical care and the same meals as the thousand other inmates, as well as a toilet, shower and television in their cells. Prime Minister Russell Dlamini has dismissed calls by lawmakers and from other quarters for the secrecy surrounding the agreement with Washington to be lifted. 'Not every decision or agreement is supposed to be publicly shared,' he said. Eswatini is the second African country to receive such deportees from the United States, after South Sudan earlier this month accepted eight individuals. The situation has sparked concerns about the potential implications for Eswatini, a country already grappling with its own challenges under the absolute monarchy of King Mswati III. The 57-year-old ruler has been criticized for his lavish lifestyle and has faced accusations of human rights violations. US President Donald Trump has used the threat of high tariffs against other countries, such as Colombia, to coerce them to take in people deported from America. Eswatini is currently facing a baseline US tariff of 10 percent — less than the 30 percent levelled at neighboring South Africa — which the government has said will negatively impact the economy. Trump has directed federal agencies to work hard on his campaign promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States. His government has turned to so-called third-country deportations in cases where the home nations of some of those targeted for removal refuse to accept them. Rights experts have warned the US deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.
Arab News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK fears new summer of unrest, year after Southport riots
EPPING: Concern is mounting in Britain that recent violent anti-immigrant protests could herald a new summer of unrest, a year after the UK was rocked by its worst riots in decades. Eighteen people have now been arrested since protests flared last week outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in the town of Epping, northeast of London, and seven people have been charged, Essex police said. In one demonstration, eight police officers were injured. The unrest was 'not just a troubling one-off,' said the chairwoman of the Police Federation, Tiff Lynch. 'It was a signal flare. A reminder of how little it takes for tensions to erupt and how ill-prepared we remain to deal with it,' she wrote in the Daily Telegraph. • Anti-migrant sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fueled by far-right activists. • Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport. • The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer was a migrant. During the demonstrations, protesters shouted 'save our children' and 'send them home,' while banners called for the expulsion of 'foreign criminals.' Cabinet Minister Jonathan Reynolds urged people not to speculate or exaggerate the situation, saying 'the government, all the key agencies, the police, they prepare for all situations. 'I understand the frustrations people have,' he told Sky News. The government was trying to fix the problem and the number of hotels occupied by asylum seekers has dropped from 400 to 200, he added. The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK's worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons. Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fueled by far-right activists. Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport. The shocking killings stoked days of riots across the country after false reports that the killer — a UK-born teenager whose family came to the country from Rwanda after the 1994 genocide — was a migrant. Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year. The issue has become politically perilous, putting pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer's center-left government, as the anti-immigrant, far-right Reform UK party rises in the polls. The Epping protests were stirred after a 38-year-old asylum seeker, who only arrived in Britain in late June, was arrested and charged with three counts of sexual assault. Images from the protests have gone viral on social networks, mirroring what happened last July. But Epping residents have maintained that the protests are being fueled by people from outside the community. 'These violent scenes ... are not Epping, and they are not what we stand for,' the Conservative MP for Epping, Neil Hudson, told parliament Monday. While calm was restored to Epping, a middle-class suburban town with a population of 12,000, tensions remain palpable. 'This is the first time something like this has happened,' one local who lives close to the Bell Hotel said, asking not to be named. 'The issue is not the hotel, but extremists applying a political ideology,' he added. Late on Thursday, the hotel, cordoned off behind barriers, was again the center of a protest involving dozens of people, with police making one arrest. With another protest expected on Sunday, the local council voted through a motion to demand the government no longer house asylum seekers at the hotel. The UK is 'likely to see more racist riots take place this summer,' said Aurelien Mondon, politics professor and expert on far-right and reactionary discourse at Bath University. Anti-immigrant protests have already erupted elsewhere, with demonstrations in the southeastern town of Diss in Norfolk outside a similar hotel on Monday. Last month, clashes flared for several days in the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland after two teenagers with Romanian roots were arrested for the alleged attempted rape of a young girl. 'It is well documented that many of the protests we are witnessing are not the result of grassroots, local movements,' Mondon said. 'Social media plays a role and facilitates coordination among extreme-right groups,' but it is 'also crucial not to exaggerate' its power, he added.
South China Morning Post
16-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Will Japan's anti-immigrant far-right parties win more votes in key election?
As Japan heads into a pivotal upper house election, populist parties on the far-right are seizing on anti-immigrant rhetoric to win over voters, echoing the strategies of US President Donald Trump's Republicans and hard-right movements across Europe. While candidates from across the political spectrum in Japan campaign on familiar issues such as inflation, jobs and defence, a surge in anti-immigrant messaging has also reframed the national conversation ahead of the House of Councillors election on Sunday. The shift is being driven by the rise of ultraconservative groups like Sanseito, a party founded in 2020, which is polling fourth in opinion surveys among the 10 parties contesting the election. While Sanseito's support remains modest – just 5.9 per cent according to a July 11 NHK poll – more than 33 per cent of voters say they are still undecided. With the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) struggling to rebound from a string of scandals and polling at just 24 per cent, political analysts say the election could produce a hung result, forcing the LDP to negotiate with smaller parties to retain power. That may give hardline groups such as Sanseito or other right-leaning contenders – the Conservative Party of Japan (CPJ), the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin), or the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) – the leverage to demand a role in government or even a cabinet seat, according to analysts. Hiromichi Moteki, a conservative historian who lives in Tokyo, used to be a supporter of the LDP but has grown disillusioned by its present leadership, dismissing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as 'hopeless'.
