Residents living near a migrant hotel outside Chesterfield are calling for its closure after two years of housing asylum seekers.
Locals claim the migrants are making their lives a misery with increasing antisocial behaviour.
Complaints include noise, litter and groups of men loitering, asking for money and looking through windows.
Residents say they were “not consulted” when the site reopened under a Home Office contract.
There are also concerns about safety on a nearby trail, with warnings circulating on Facebook about men following women through the park.
In December 2023, a 27-year-old resident of the hotel was arrested on suspicion of possessing explosives, though he was later released on bail.
Police stated that nothing found at the site posed any danger to the public.
Shannon Freeman, 31, told the Daily Mail: “We see the comings and goings. They have been on the street looking through people’s windows. We got cameras, and that seemed to stop.
“I have been here since this street was built three years ago, and the asylum seekers have been here for two years. They were fine at first. It is only in the last six months that they have started to behave in a bad way.”
Gary Cook’s family used to own the hotel, but it changed hands a number of times before the contract with the Home Office.
He said: “I think there are about 80 blokes in there and it has lowered the value of the houses around here and it is not great for the hotel.
“I think it is totally run down now. So it will be hard to get over the stigma and turn it back into a hotel. It is not an ideal scenario. It is a shame to see it laid to waste.”
Chelsea Lodge, 23, a mother of two, stated: “I have come off the bus three times, and they have been running up asking for money.”
Marina Tamasauskas, 41, said: ‘I am not racist, but they are causing problems.
“They have been loitering on the streets. One of the blokes was filming out the windows.”
The University of Lyon-2 is currently the subject of heated debate. Willy Beauvallet-Haddad announced on Monday May 5 that he would be stepping down from his executive positions at the university, i.e. from his posts as Vice-President for Human Resources since 2018, for Finance since 2021 and as Vice-President of the Board of Directors, which he has held since February 2025. However, he will remain a lecturer in political science, as Le Point reports. With his resignation, Willy Beauvallet-Haddad hopes to ‘reduce the pressure on the institution and protect the interests of the institution in a particularly problematic context that it is undergoing’, he wrote in a message to his colleagues. He refers to ‘harassment’ and a ‘public vilification campaign’ following ‘his personal statements on the situation in Palestine and Lebanon’.
Willy Beauvallet-Haddad has been at the centre of turmoil for several weeks after a number of posts on social networks were uncovered. In one tweet, the academic paid tribute to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September 2024. This was despite the group being classified as a terrorist organisation by many countries. ‘He died among his own for the great (Palestinian and Arab) cause and he has been added to the pantheon of our hearts and the great figures of history,’ he wrote. Tensions have increased on the Lyon campus since the intimidation of Fabrice Balanche on April 1, who denounced in particular the growing influence of religious activism within the university. The professor was forced to leave one of his lectures after a dozen masked activists forced their way in.
Deputy Secretary of State and former US Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau
The war of words continues to escalate between the Trump administration and the parting left-Green German government over the secret police attack on the largest opposition party in Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Responding to an X post from the German foreign ministry, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau issued a scathing smack-down to the self-righteous finger-waggers in Berlin.
Speaking for myself, words can’t even begin to express the outrage and resentment I feel at having an official account of the GERMAN government purport to lecture the US Secretary of State on the need to spy on and censor the political opposition. And no, Germany, you can’t hide…
— Christopher Landau (@ChrisLandauUSA) May 3, 2025
The slugfest began with an X post by SecState Marco Rubio – Landau’s boss and confidante – skewering the German government’s attack on the AfD (The Gateway Pundit reported), currently the most popular party in Germany in the polls:
“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”
The German Foreign Ministry, run until this week by departing Green disaster Annalena Baerbock and her left-hand woman, American former Greenpeace head Jennifer Morgan (World Economic Fund), clapped back with typical self-righteousness:
“This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.”
That was obviously too much for Deputy SecState Christopher Landau, who is Jewish and the son of a WW II veteran.
Landau posted:
“Speaking for myself, words can’t even begin to express the outrage and resentment I feel at having an official account of the GERMAN government purport to lecture the US Secretary of State on the need to spy on and censor the political opposition.
And no, Germany, you can’t hide behind smug references to what you’ve learned from “your” history.
As you may recall, it’s “our” history too, as we played a pretty important role in ending that particular chapter in your history.
And it’s “my” history too, as my own father was forced to flee his native Vienna after the Anschluss (and became an American citizen and proudly fought in the US Army to liberate Europe).
He didn’t flee as a result of TOO MUCH free speech; he fled because those who believed in spying on and censoring political opponents were in charge.
You may choose to brand your own citizens as “rightwing extremists” and silence or jail them because, for instance, they oppose open borders. But please spare us the moralizing.”
Ouch!
“The German establishment elite are running scared because the German people are sick of their failed climate nonsense and Open Borders madness and are desperate for sensible politics,” European Parliament foreign committee member Petr Bystron (AfD) told The Gateway Pundit. “They are turning to the Alternative for Germany despite years of persecution and character assassination, as I experienced myself first-hand. They thought they could pull the same stunts as usual, but now, we have a US government which is on to their tricks and will no longer stand for it. Thank you, Marco Rubio and Chris Landau.”
„The German establishment elites are running scared because the German people are sick of their failed climate nonsense and Open Borders madness and are desperate for sensible politics.
They are turning to the Alternative for Germany (@AfD) despite years of persecution and… https://t.co/NinrBqn7VT
The influential mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, is harshly criticizing the Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the powerful German domestic spy agency, after it labeled the Alternative for Germany (AfD) a confirmed “right-wing extremist” party. The former Green Party politician, who won Tübingen despite switching to run as an independent, said the secret, 1,000-page report used to justify the AfD’s designation basically just listed public incidents already known to the media.
“Unless Der Spiegel is simply poorly informed, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has compiled primarily what is publicly known,” wrote Palmer.
In addition, the report seems to focus on the AfD’s stance on migration, but Palmer himself says it is no surprise the AfD is critical of immigration.
He noted that there are vast differences in rates of violence between different regions of the world, and also within Germany, it is clear that some groups are more prone to violence than others, including groups like Afghans and Algerians. However, he argues that this is socially and not genetically determined.
“Terms like ‘knifemen’ are political exaggerations, but not evidence of racism,” he wrote.
“Just being staunchly right-wing and anti-immigration is not forbidden,” he added. “After all, the law of blood was still largely a reality in the Federal Republic of Germany.” He said the 2000 reform of the citizenship law improved this situation, which meant children born to non-German parents could still attain citizenship in Germany, “but were Helmut Kohl and Roland Koch enemies of the constitution because they clung to the old law?”
The report from the BfV could pave the way for a potential ban, but Palmer is also critical of a ban procedure, saying that not only could it benefit the AfD, but that the entire process may be legally questionable with a very uncertain outcome.
He said he cannot imagine that the Constitutional Court, the country’s top court, would classify the party based on statements it has made about migration and even the concept of Germans as an ethnicity. He said accusations about the AfD being racists, Nazis, or misanthropic are to be expected, but for judges to ban an entire party over it is not believable or constitutional.
Notably, the AfD is now polling in first place for the first time ever, and in some polls has reached 26 percent. It is currently the second-largest party in the Bundestag and the largest opposition party.
The BfV is a highly partisan organization. Run by President Thomas Haldenwang (CDU), he reports to the head of the Interior Ministry, Nancy Faeser (SPD). Both parties have a vested interest in removing the AfD as competition in the democratic process.
Regardless of a ban, the “extremist” classification from the BfV is a powerful blow against the party, as it enables the BfV to surveil members with impunity, including chats and emails. It also means civil servants cannot be members of the party, including police officers. In addition, the BfV can now install informants in the party, who can make extremist statements and tarnish the party’s reputation, all without the AfD knowing who is an informant and who is not. In short, it is a massive tool of intimidation and fear using Stasi-like methods with 21st-century technology, including AI tracking and monitoring.
Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality, has once again defended the usefulness of the 72-hour survival kit she presented just over a month ago, which drew widespread attention for the way it was communicated. The energy crisis that affected Spain and Portugal last week serves as a fresh example of how fear has become the primary political fuel for justifying whatever measures Brussels deems necessary in a ‘time of crisis.’ Lahbib described the blackout as “the most serious in Europe in the last two decades” and stressed the importance of citizens being prepared to act independently during the first hours of any crisis.
In an interview with El Mundo, Lahbib explained that the EU’s strategy not only seeks to prepare the population for blackouts or other natural disasters but also for risks such as cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions, or technological threats. “These events are increasingly frequent and unpredictable. They can overwhelm emergency services in the first hours,” she noted.
The core of her message, however, focused on managing information during crises. The commissioner emphasized that one of the main challenges is the spread of rumors and false news, which, she explained, complicates the institutional response and generates social uncertainty. “Clear and inclusive communication is essential, both before a crisis and during it,” Lahbib stated. She added that the European Commission is developing awareness campaigns and will enable Member States to use the Galileo system to send direct alerts to the population.
This emphasis on combating disinformation is not new and aligns with the EU’s latest legislative initiatives on digital control. These include the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Critical Entities Resilience Directive, which strengthen the obligation of digital platforms to monitor, limit, and remove content considered false or potentially dangerous. Although the stated goal is to combat disinformation and protect public safety, these measures raise serious concerns of censorship and the curtailment of freedom of expression in the name of security.
Lahbib insisted on the need to strengthen community preparedness not only in material terms, but also in terms of communication. “Part of being prepared is, for example, knowing your neighbor so that if this person is vulnerable or has a disability, you think of them,” she stressed, calling for citizen solidarity.
The EU’s package of measures also foresees cooperation between Member States to share best practices and coordinate their efforts in times of crisis. However, experts warn that the increasing centralization of crisis management and the expansion of control over public information could lead to a scenario where the plurality of voices is restricted at critical moments.
Populist-sovereigntist candidate George Simion came out on top in the first round of voting in the Romanian presidential election on Sunday. The election was held after the previous election was annulled, and the leading candidate was barred from running in the redo contest.
Results unveiled by Romania’s Permanent Electoral Authority, with over 99 per cent of votes tabulated, showed that Simion scored a large victory with 40.87 per cent of the vote.
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) leader was followed by neo-liberal globalist Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan in second place at 20.97 per cent and acting President Crin Antonescu in third with 20.13 per cent, Digi24 reports.
Simion branded the victory as “an exceptional result” and added: “You are victorious. Today the Romanian people spoke. It’s time to be heard, despite the obstacles, despite the manipulations… Romanians stood up.”
However, given that no candidate secured a majority of the vote, Romanians will head back to the polls on May 18th for a runoff election between Simion and Dan, as acting President Antonescu was eliminated.
The campaign has been mired in controversy. The previous election was cancelled after populist insurgent candidate Călin Georgescu secured a surprise victory in the first round of voting in November over alleged Russian interference on behalf of the anti-Ukraine war candidate. Supporters of Georgescu accused Brussels of meddling in the Romanian election to block the Eurosceptic frontrunner from becoming the next president.
In February, Georgescu was arrested over accusations of having committed “incitement to actions against the constitutional order,” the “communication of false information,” making “false statements”, and the “initiation or establishment of an organisation with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character”.
The following month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau ruled that Georgescu be barred from standing again for the presidency, accusing him of failing to “respect the rules of the electoral procedure” and having “violated the obligation to defend democracy.”
On Sunday, Georgescu appeared with Simion at the ballot box in Bucharest. While he said that he did not accept the “fraud” of an election, he came to show his support for “the power of democracy, the power of voting that scares the system, that terrifies the system.”
For his part, Simion said that he did not vote for himself, but rather for his banned ally, saying: “Christ is risen! I voted with Călin Georgescu. We are here with only one mission: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy.
“I have no other objective than first place for the Romanian people, for whom I serve. We are here with the people and for the Romanian people. We are here with one desire, to do justice for Romania.”
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on the sidelines of his recent trip to Washington, where he met with conservative allies of President Donald Trump, Simion vowed to be an ally of the American administration if he is elected as President of Romania.
“I am the only one who has channels to the Trump administration. The Trump administration doesn’t want to talk with our public government selected by Brussels. Yes, America would be our main focus and key strategic partner. We are the natural partners and we are ideologically the same with the MAGA movement. You can consider me a MAGA candidate—the only MAGA candidate in the Romanian election,” he told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle.
Simion said that the election is not about him, however, but rather about “continuing this sovereigntist movement” started by Călin Georgescu, saying: “I’m his replacement. People are upset and they want their president back. Their president is Georgescu and we will bring him to power through these elections and all the means that is necessary.”
The AUR leader went on to compare the current struggle against the globalism of Brussels to Romania’s fight against the communist oppression of the Soviet Union.
“The ideals of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 will be transformed into reality. People died hoping that we have free elections, democracy, and freedom. We forgot about this. It turns out the fight continues for freedom and all of our lives. You must fight generation to generation, and you must win. So this is what we are doing right now.”
The same Western leaders who speak endlessly about “protecting Democracy” continue to rig elections, outlaw political parties, and prosecute candidates. Germany has declared Alternative for Germany — now the country’s most popular party — an “extremist group” on par with domestic terror organizations. The European Union helped Marxist globalists in Romania invalidate a presidential election and ban the winner from office. France and Brazil have followed the U.S. example of bringing ludicrous criminal charges against popular anti-Establishment politicians, and while President Trump overcame the sham prosecutions targeting him, Marine Le Pen and Jair Bolsonaro are fighting just to survive.
Let’s not forget either that the Ukraine-Russia War drags on today only because U.S. and European forces helped overthrow the legitimately elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, back in 2014. His transgression? Yanukovych’s government was pushing back against the EU’s efforts to absorb Ukraine into its continental empire. The same NATO and EU talking-heads who denounce Russia’s conquest of its neighbor are mostly mad because they hoped to conquer Ukraine first.
It’s a disorienting time for Westerners who once respected their civic institutions. The Cold War mentality of the twentieth century created clear distinctions between closed, communist systems and rights-based, free societies. In the West, people could freely practice the religious tenets of their respective faiths; in communist societies, people were expected to obey the quasi-divine strictures of the State. In the West, people could own property and freely exchange goods and services; in communist societies, people owned nothing and received only what the State gave them. In the West, people could speak their minds and publicly debate new ideas; in communist societies, people adhered to politically correct ideology under the constant threat of arrest, torture, and even death. The West was supposed to err on the side of individual freedoms, even when those freedoms permitted awful people to say awful things.
Western societies did not always live up to the principles that distinguished them from totalitarian regimes, but respect for personal freedom did serve as an effective guardrail that kept Western governments from careening toward totalitarianism, too.
What’s going on today is entirely different.
Western governments treat religious faith as a disease that must be cured. The faithful (particularly Christians and Jews) are quarantined from the rest of society and expected to hide their beliefs in public spaces. Law enforcement agencies in the U.S., U.K., and continental Europe arrest Christians praying silently outside of abortion facilities. When churches and synagogues are vandalized or burned down, those crimes are often excused and rarely solved. In Canada, arsonists have largely been given a free pass due to the government’s borderline hatred for the Catholic Church. During purported Catholic Joe Biden’s presidency, the FBI spied on Americans who celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. Politicians casually blame Jews for genocide (a slander that is sickeningly ironic) and speak of Christians as “nationalists,” “fundamentalists,” “far-right extremists,” “fascists,” and “Nazis.”
The combined effect of these government-sanctioned attacks against people of faith is threefold: (1) religious freedom is undermined; (2) the State’s worldview is elevated over all others; and (3) religions not explicitly partnering with the State are deemed national security threats. These characteristics aptly describe the former Soviet Union’s hostility toward religion. They aptly describe the Chinese Communist Party’s hostility toward religion. And they aptly describe the West’s hostility toward religion today.
What about property and free markets? Most Westerners are in debt. They rent apartments or live in bank-owned homes. They make just enough to pay for their expenses each month and have no real savings. A substantial portion of their income is confiscated indirectly through government regulations or directly through a panoply of government taxes. Most Westerners receive some kind of government welfare in the form of subsidies, entitlements, healthcare, or retirement income. An ever-increasing share of the Western population depends almost entirely upon the State.
Even those with assets are kept under the government’s thumb. Fiat money (government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity such as gold) and central banks are antithetical to truly free markets. By threat of violence, governments force citizens to buy and sell goods and services using innately worthless paper bills (or digital ones and zeroes) as a medium of exchange. Those currencies retain value only so long as a government’s threat of force maintains the State’s monopoly over legal tender. Gold doesn’t require a government agent with a gun to establish its value. When central banks manipulate the money supply, they effectively distort all markets. They create economic “winners” and “losers” by decree. That’s a hallmark of a State-controlled economy, not a free market. By increasing the money supply over time, central banks decrease the value of State-enforced currencies. Conversely, they artificially raise the currency-denominated valuation of homes, stocks, and other real assets.
What is the end result? Personal savings rates decrease because fiat currencies kept under a mattress depreciate over time. Instead, consumers spend their money or invest it in assets that are artificially juiced. People with retirement investments become dependent upon the government’s money-printing because without such blatant market manipulation, the artificially-created value of their homes and investment portfolios would disappear. Western governments have effectively enslaved citizens to central banks and set in motion a financial doom loop that requires new government spending, cyclical bank and industry bailouts, and regular intervention in consumer markets. There’s nothing “free” about that.
Whereas the majority of Americans in 1900 lived in rural areas and small towns, the twentieth-century push toward urbanization has forced most people into ever-smaller spaces. Rising property and inheritance taxes and costly government regulations have crushed most small farms. Those family farms still struggling to survive must constantly fend off attacks from agricultural conglomerates, domestic and foreign saboteurs, Chinese shell companies, and land baron billionaires such as Bill Gates. Similarly, the European Union’s ridiculous “net-zero” carbon regulations and destructive obsession with “climate change” socialism are bankrupting private farmers on the other side of the Atlantic. Western governments don’t want private citizens to own land. They don’t want private citizens to grow food or to be self-sufficient. They have been actively cultivating a future in which government bureaucrats and a small number of multinational corporations will control every acre. That kind of world embraces collectivism. Nothing about it encourages citizens to be free.
What about free speech? It turns out that Western governments’ commitments to free speech were only as strong as their relative control over the principal sources of the public’s information. When a small number of national publications, radio stations, and television news studios maintained undue influence over public opinion, governments could indirectly shape society by discreetly controlling the content of mass communication. They did this by regulating broadcasts over the “public’s airwaves,” pressuring news publications to self-censor, intervening in matters involving “national security,” and outright funding the very news institutions that falsely portray themselves as independent guardians of the free press.
As this institutional monopoly has come crashing down with the advent of the Internet and the rise of social media, Western governments have become openly hostile to forms of mass communication that empower the broader public. Since the ‘90s, we have seen the steady criminalization of speech. “Hate speech” laws have proliferated. Government agencies dedicated to fighting so-called “disinformation” have taken form. Police forces in the U.K., Germany, and elsewhere arrest citizens for expressing unapproved opinions online. Effectively, Western governments are targeting any information that threatens their monopoly over official “narratives.” The most effective way to do so is to intimidate and silence prospective speakers. No country that criminalizes thoughts and words is a friend to free speech.
A trans-identified pedophile has complained in court about the “distress” he has experienced by being held in a male prison after previously being turned loose following a child pornography conviction.
Reduxx reported in August 2023 how Dominic Carter, now going by “Sophie,” was convicted on three counts of making indecent images of children after being arrested in April of 2021. Despite two images on his phone coming under the classification of Category A, reserved for the most serious type of child sexual abuse content, Carter was spared an immediate prison sentence. He was instead handed 18 months, suspended on the condition of good behavior and compliance with release conditions.
During the trial, his attorney attempted to argue that he had a history of child abuse and alcoholism, in order to mitigate. It was only at the sentencing hearing when Carter revealed he identified as transgender, with the court immediately swapping to referring to him as “she/her” and “Miss.”
In serving his suspended sentence in the community, Carter had to adhere to various restrictions and conditions, including completing 60 hours of rehabilitation sessions, 120 hours of unpaid work, and registering as a sex offender. He is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.
However, after conviction, Carter allegedly ended up living a “chaotic” lifestyle, including being made homeless. He was no longer staying at his registered address, and according to prosecutors, even faked being kidnapped to the police. He told police that he was being held hostage for £140, with police speaking to him throughout the day until they arrested him.
Since his conviction, he has appeared in court four times total, with prosecutor Hannah Douglas telling Southampton Crown Court that his breaches, including failing to comply with notification requirements, were “deliberate.” He pled guilty to three offenses in total, which also included failure to attend probation appointments.
Carter has been held in remand at HMP Winchester, a Category B male prison, which the defense told the court created “additional difficulties” for him. The “male environment” of the prison was creating “some distress and concern.” He couldn’t turn up to his probation appointments, the defense argued, because he had been kicked out of his parent’s house, and was “assaulted” while living on the streets.
“That particular chaotic lifestyle made them disengage with probation,” said defense lead Eve Shelley. “This defendant has been remanded in custody since the first of April this year and has used the time in custody in a positive way. They are now no longer using illicit drugs. This defendant has expressed to me an understating that upon receiving a sentence of immediate custody… that it is an opportunity to use that time positively,” she added.
As a result, Judge Nicholas Rownland gave Carter six months in prison, saying he had “no choice” but to finally remand him to custody.
“I appreciate that your lifestyle is chaotic. That last thing I want to do is to have to send you to prison for these offences,” Judge Rowland concluded. “I have given full credit for your plea. I have much hope that now this slate is wiped clean that there won’t be another one in the future. You need to sort this out otherwise you will go to prison for longer and longer periods.”
After the initial 2023 prosecution, Standing for Women Hampshire told Reduxx they were concerned about the fact the court referred to him with female pronouns, something that also occurred in the most recent prosecution, leading to him likely being recorded on the crime statistics as a woman.
“Once again we see the thing that never happens, a male sex offender claiming a female identity to mitigate his punishment. It’s beyond comprehension that the courts are falling for this nonsense,” the representative told Reduxx.
“We have serious concerns about how this man will be recorded, both in crime statistics and especially on the sex offender register. For the media to show such deference to the desires of a pedophile that they use his adopted name and she/her pronouns throughout their report is insulting and hugely disrespectful towards women and his very real victims,” she added.
Simion inherited much of the Georgescu vote as the name for the right wing.
It’s the Globalists’ biggest nightmare.
After all, the EU-liberal establishment forced Romania to cancel the first round of the presidential election that took place last November, proceeding to arrest and indict frontrunner Calin Georgescu, and finally banning him from running in today’s ‘redo’.
The last thing the European ‘powers that be’ were expecting was that another right-winger, George Simion, would sweep the race and come out on top – but that’s exactly what’s happening.
“Romanian hard-right candidate George Simion was ahead in a presidential election first round, followed by centrist candidate Crin Antonescu, an exit poll showed on Sunday.
A separate exit poll put Simion in first place and centrist candidates Antonescu and Nicusor Dan neck and neck in second.”
Simion (right) inherited much of the vote first given to Georgescu (left).
Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, had come in fourth place in the annulled vote, but he inherited Georgescu’s votes and surged to first place.
He is now projected to win the first round of Romania’s presidential election, with more than 30 percent of the vote.
“It was not immediately clear which candidate would place second, with establishment figurehead Crin Antonescu and centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan battling to face Simion in the runoff. Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta is set to finish in fourth place, the exit polls say.
The exit poll projections are not official results, which are expected to start coming in from Romania’s election authority in the next few hours. The exit polls also do not reflect votes cast by the Romanian diaspora abroad.”
Romanians took to the streets ‘en masse’ to protest the cancelled elections, and have voted again on the right.
“The election results are being closely watched in Brussels and Washington, as Romania has become the latest battleground between the hard right and political establishment. Simion has unapologetically badged himself as a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.”
[…] Simion hoped to harness the election support Georgescu built last year by saying he’ll have a job for him, even possibly as prime minister.”
German police officers may face expulsion if they are found to be members of the populist AfD party after a spy agency classified the party as being “right-wing extremist”.
Leaders in the states of Hesse and Bavaria have announced that they will examine whether to ban civil servants, including members of the police, for being members of the anti-mass migration Alternative für Deutschland party, the Bild newspaper reports.
It comes after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) intelligence agency on Friday officially classified the party as being a “right-wing extremist” organisation over its stance against the open borders agenda of the Berlin establishment and against mass migration from Muslim nations, which it found was “not compatible with the free democratic basic order” of Germany.
The move will allow the state to step up its surveillance of the AfD, including the use of informants and wiretapping of party communications. The government was already spying on the party after the BfV previously branded it as “suspected” extremists.
The upgrade in classification has been taken as justification by establishment politicians to go after AfD members who serve as government employees.
Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck, of the supposedly centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said: “We will examine the extent to which the classification by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has an impact on AfD members and officials in the public service. Our employees in the police and administration must guarantee that they will support our free, democratic basic order at all times.”
Poseck said he would push for a nationwide ban on AfD members serving as police officers or civil servants at the meeting of state interior ministers next month in Bremerhaven.
This has been backed by the Minister-President of Bavaria and head of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party Markus Söder, who said: “We also have to examine what consequences this classification must have for the activities of AfD members in the public service.”
Others have called for the government to withdraw public financing for the AfD, which all parties with over half a per cent of support in Germany are entitled to. Currently, the AfD is the most popular party in the country, with around 26 per cent.
The chairman of the CDU state parliamentary group in Lower Saxony said: “The Conference of Interior Ministers should now carefully examine a request to withdraw party financing. I find it unbearable to finance right-wing extremist and anti-constitutional propaganda from tax revenue.”
There have also been suggestions that initiatives to ban the AfD outright should be undertaken in the wake of the BfV’s ruling, with Social Democrat Thuringia Interior Minister Georg Maier saying that a “prohibition procedure is the logical consequence of this decision.” A ban would require the approval of either the Bundestag or Bundesrat legislative bodies or the Federal Constitutional Court.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said that “anti-democratic interior ministers want to harass police officers with AfD membership under the pretext” of the BfV’s ruling, adding: “This is an attack on the rule of law and internal security. We stand in front of our police officers and will not abandon them!”
