Key facts
- Far-right leaders in Europe are using recent protest violence to promote anti-immigration and authoritarian agendas.
- Parties in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Italy are framing the unrest as a failure of liberal governance.
- Marine Le Pen stated the French state was 'collapsing' and had 'lost control'.
- Alice Weidel linked the unrest to 'mass migration and leftwing extremism' in Germany.
- Vox party leader Santiago Abascal falsely suggested an evicted elderly woman would have had housing if she were an immigrant.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni highlighted that nearly half of those arrested in Milan riots were of immigrant background.
Europe's far-right leaders are capitalizing on recent protest violence to advance their anti-immigration and authoritarian platforms. In France, National Rally leaders Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen criticized the government's response to riots, with Le Pen stating the state was 'collapsing'. Germany's AfD co-leader Alice Weidel warned of potential spillover from France's 'violent excesses,' linking unrest to immigration. Portugal's Chega party leader André Ventura cautioned against importing instability, while Spain's Vox party leader Santiago Abascal accused protesters of being 'Sánchez’s militias' and linked housing issues to migration. Belgium's Vlaams Belang characterized the rioting as 'imported violence.' Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, heading a far-right government, enacted new decrees against rioters and noted the immigrant background of some arrested individuals. Anti-immigration figures like Éric Zemmour in France and US politicians Donald Trump and JD Vance have framed the unrest as a consequence of multiculturalism and immigration.