{"id":262693,"date":"2025-07-13T22:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T22:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/262693\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T22:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T22:43:14","slug":"increasing-cross-border-infrastructure-for-anti-immigration-protests-report-says-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/262693\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing \u2018cross-border infrastructure\u2019 for anti-immigration protests, report says \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anti-immigration protests and race hate incidents across Ireland are increasingly being coordinated as part of a \u201ccross-border infrastructure\u201d, a leading think tank on anti-extremism has reported.<\/p>\n

There is also increasing evidence of an international element to anti-immigration protests on both sides of the border, including from Russian-linked actors, the report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has said.<\/p>\n

In August 2024 rioting erupted on the streets of Belfast and other parts of the north in the wake of the Southport riots in England, while last month anti-immigration protests led to widespread racist hate attacks on immigrants\u2019 homes in Ballymena.<\/p>\n

The report was released this week and was written by extremism expert Zoe Manzi, who concluded that there had been a significant rise in cooperation between loyalists in the north and \u201cethnonationalists\u201d in the south.<\/p>\n

\"GB<\/a>\"Ardoyne<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCross-border coordination between ethnonationalist groups in Ireland and Northern Irish Loyalist communities is a notable development given the region\u2019s long-standing political and ideological divisions,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, nationalist and loyalist constituencies have operated in ideological opposition with distinct identities, objectives and historical narratives. <\/p>\n

\u201cEmerging collaboration between actors on either side of the border marks a significant shift in the political landscape suggesting that shared perceived grievances can override older sectarian fault lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report cites the attendance of Dublin-based group Coolock Says No<\/a> at anti-immigration protests in Belfast last year alongside the appearance of former UVF members at protests in Limerick last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-migrant mobilisation across the island of Ireland has entered a new, more organised phase. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat began as scattered, localised protests in late 2022 have evolved into an increasingly structured and internationally connected movement. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2025, this mobilisation is characterised by street protests, intimidation, targeted violence and coordinated amplification online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Manzi suggests there is also increasing evidence that that far-right movements on both side of the border are being amplified by Russian-backed groups on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussian-aligned propaganda outlets are also actively engaged in promoting polarising and anti-migrant content,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne example is Pravda Ireland, an account which is not state run but consistently aligned with Russia\u2019s strategic interests, and publishes content in both the English and Irish languages. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis activity reflects a broader playbook of Russian and pro-Russian strategic communication: amplifying local grievances, sowing distrust in public institutions, and stoking polarisation by co-opting the language of cultural and demographic threat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anti-immigration protests and race hate incidents across Ireland are increasingly being coordinated as part of a \u201ccross-border infrastructure\u201d,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[40,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-262693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-immigration","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114848347373227636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}