Allah's Willing Executioners

Unhappy birthday to Germany.

Ever since taking office as German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz’s popularity has only fallen.

That’s hardly surprising, since he is pushing for the same failed Globalist policies as his predecessor Olaf Scholz, and is leading a country with a stagnant economy and a fractured society due to unchecked mass migration.

Merz’s numbers are a record low: a mid-April poll shows only 18% of voters are satisfied with his work, while as much as 80% are dissatisfied. Even the majority of Merz voters are reportedly unhappy.

🇩🇪 Merz faces public ridicule

A journalist asks what has actually improved for German citizens since he took office as Chancellor

The room breaks into laughter

Merz appears visibly uncomfortable, struggling to find a clear response

A tense moment that raises fresh questions… pic.twitter.com/pZq5Z9XwkC

— WAR (@warsurv) May 3, 2026

And, as Merz completes one year as Chancellor, he has also gotten himself into some heavy transatlantic trouble.

Reuters reported:

“Chancellor Friedrich Merz marks a year in office this week facing the biggest crisis with Washington in decades, after ​President Donald Trump said he would hit European auto imports with 25% tariffs and pull thousands of troops out of Germany.

The moves, announced on Friday after Trump reacted angrily to criticism by ‌Merz of U.S. strategy in the Iran war, underline the break in transatlantic relations that has become increasingly apparent in Trump’s second term and add to an array of problems now facing the German leader.”

“In an interview with German public television on Sunday, Merz, who was sworn into office ​on May 6 last year, acknowledged public doubts, reflected in opinion polls that now put the far-right Alternative for Germany ahead of his conservatives as the country’s most popular party.

‘The doubts are growing. Not about me, but about the ​coalition’, he said.”

The Chancellor made offensive comments about the US campaign in Iran, setting fire to the alliance with the US – and so far he hasn’t been able to put of the flames.

thegatewaypundit

Romania’s parliament has voted to oust pro-EU Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in a no-confidence motion, deepening political turmoil in the European Union and NATO member state bordering Ukraine.

The motion, initiated jointly by the left-wing Social Democrats (PSD) and the right-wing Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), received 281 votes in the 464-seat parliament. Bolojan’s liberal National Liberal Party (PNL) and its Save Romania Union (USR) allies were present but did not vote.

The PSD, Romania’s biggest party, quit the government last month before teaming up with the AUR to file the motion. The decision drew sharp criticism that the Social Democrats were legitimising a surging right-wing force.

“By joining with the AUR, the PSD has turned it into a significant political player, from a party that was isolated, ostracised and kept on the margins of the political system,” political scientist Costin Ciobanu told AFP.

The AUR has overtaken the PSD in surveys since the last parliamentary elections, polling at around 37 per cent. Its leader George Simion posted on X after the vote that “the voice of the people was heard today,” calling for “national reconciliation”.

Tensions with the PSD escalated as Bolojan, 57, pushed for unpopular austerity measures to reduce the deficit, the biggest in the EU. PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu said after the vote that Bolojan should resign while it was “the duty of responsible parties to find a solution”.

“I want us to form a government quickly,” Grindeanu said.

Pro-EU President Nicușor Dan has given assurances that the eastern European country of 19 million people will keep its pro-Western direction, ruling out the possibility of a right-wing government.

“Political discussions will be difficult, but it is my responsibility as president — and that of the political parties — to steer Romania in the right direction,” he told reporters on Monday.

In parliament ahead of the vote, Bolojan defended his push for reforms, slamming the motion as “deceitful, cynical and contrived”.

“I chose to do what was urgent and necessary for our country,” he said.

Bolojan’s liberals, the PSD and two other pro-EU parties formed a government last year following elections in which right-wing parties won an unprecedented third of parliamentary seats. The deal ended political tumult marked by the annulment of presidential elections over allegations of Russian interference in December 2024.

Ciobanu, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark, said weeks of political negotiations were likely, which could see a new government formed by the same four pro-EU parties but under a different premier.

According to Reuters, Bolojan will stay on as interim premier with limited powers until a new government is endorsed by parliament.

Since the crisis erupted, interest rates on Romanian borrowing have risen, and the leu has depreciated against the euro, which reached an all-time high of 5.21 Romanian lei on Tuesday.

Romania, which had a deficit of 7.9 per cent of GDP in the fourth quarter of last year, has been subject to an EU excessive deficit procedure since 2020.

brusselssignal

A consultant unleashed a ‘tirade of abuse’ at two men in a hospital prayer room because they belonged to a different branch of Islam, a disciplinary tribunal has heard. Dr Nuri Attagour, a Sunni Muslim, subjected two Shia Muslims to a barrage of ‘derogatory names’ during a five to 10 minute outburst which occurred during the call to prayer near the end of Ramadan.

Dr Attagour, a locum consultant physician, has now been handed a three-month suspension following the incident at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary Hospital in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel ruled him guilty of serious misconduct.

The tribunal determined that Dr Attagour launched a ‘tirade of abuse’ at two men, identified as Dr A and Mr B, inside the prayer room at lunchtime on April 19, 2023 and at Mr B the day after. The consultant, the panel concluded, branded the pair ‘infidels’, ‘filthy’ and ‘disbelievers’.

He also informed them that the direction in which they prayed was incorrect, that they were ‘the biggest threat to Islam’, and labelled them ‘Kafir’ which translates to infidels in Arabic. On April 20 Dr Attagour told Mr B he did not wish to be with Shia Muslims ‘in this life or the afterlife’, that ‘he would be burning in the hellfire’ and described Shia Muslims as ‘low, evil, disgusting and liars’.

The tribunal was told that at the time, the majority of Muslims employed at the hospital ‘appeared to be Sunni’. Dr A described the experience as ‘very unpleasant and toxic’, while Mr B called it an ‘unexpected degradation’ and a ‘humiliation’, reports Manchester Evening News.

express

Residents in the Dutch municipality of Hulst have reacted with anger after local officials confirmed that the Reynaertland swimming pool will once again be used as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers.

The municipality said the decision was taken after an urgent request from the Dutch minister for asylum and migration, with the site due to reopen on May 15. The emergency center is expected to operate for one year and will house a maximum of 50 asylum seekers in the pool complex’s hall.

Despite the new accommodation arrangement, the municipality says the swimming pool will remain open to the public as normal.

That point has prompted particular concern from local residents, including parents whose children use the facility for swimming lessons.

As reported by De Dagelijkse Standaard, one local, Jordi Van de Wiele, responded sarcastically on Facebook, “Nice place in combination with our daughter’s swimming lessons. I’m glad other people are more important than ‘our’ people.”

The site has been used for asylum accommodation before, between October 2022 and July 2025, and several residents claimed the previous arrangement caused problems in the area.

Vanity Faas-esseling wrote, “Security… they were wandering around everywhere last time… and whistling at you by the roundabout.”

Another commenter, Beestenboel van Kaat, demanded written guarantees from the municipality. “Can you guarantee that the residents of the municipality of Hulst will remain 100 percent safe, and that if this is not the case, you will be held 100 percent responsible?” the resident wrote. “Please put this agreement in black and white on paper.”

The municipality has attempted to reassure residents by pointing to security measures, including 24-hour supervision and house rules for those staying at the site.

However, the comments under the announcement suggest many locals remain unconvinced.

Another resident, John S. van Ulst, wrote, “Hopefully no single young and ungrateful fortune seekers (come) to Hulst.”

The decision comes amid continuing pressure on Dutch municipalities to provide temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, a policy that has repeatedly triggered local opposition when public buildings, hotels, or sports facilities are converted into emergency shelters.

Residents of other Dutch towns now accommodating a center for asylum seekers have warned other municipalities from following suit. In February, residents in Harderwijk described what they said was a sharp deterioration in safety and quality of life.

One elderly resident said, “I won’t walk my dog here at night after nine o’clock. So, that says it all.” A mother added, “Fights, shots were fired here on the premises.”

Some described several incidents involving knives. “One stabbing to another stabbing. And then again that fuss, fights with people in the street,” one local said. Another added, “They stab each other. Just in the middle of the street with the children walking by.” A resident living opposite the center, who uses a mobility scooter, said, “If you see how often the police stand there. Surely that says it all.”

Last month, locals in the Dutch city of Loosdrecht protested against a proposed asylum seekers’ center, resulting in serious police violence targeting the protesters with baton charges, which left at least one protester unconscious on the pavement, which was caught on film.

Commentator and activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek praised the protests at the time, writing, “Hundreds of migrants are to be moved to a location in Loosdrecht – a small town close to where I grew up. The locals were not given any say, of course, and took to the streets in protest. Glad to see the true Dutch fighting spirit isn’t gone completely. Go, my fellow countrymen! Enough is enough.”

Following the protests, the local authorities scaled back plans, confirming that 70 asylum seekers will be housed at the facility instead of the proposed 110.

rmx

More than half of Muslims would vote for pro-Gaza independents to stop Labour from winning, a new poll has revealed.

Labour faces a dramatic collapse in support among British Muslim voters ahead of this week’s local elections, with new Policy Exchange research revealing the party’s backing has plummeted from a historic 80 per cent to just 33 per cent.

The polling, conducted by JL Partners, shows six in 10 Muslim voters in key battleground councils are prepared to back Gaza-focused independent candidates as a means of defeating Labour.

Nearly half would consider supporting the Greens for the same purpose.

The findings suggest a fundamental realignment of Muslim political allegiances, with voters increasingly drawn to independent candidates who prioritise concerns about the global Muslim community alongside local issues.

The Israel-Gaza conflict appears to be a significant driver of this shift away from Labour.

The survey covered more than 1,000 British Muslims living in areas with significant Muslim populations where elections are being held, spanning Greater London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and parts of Lancashire, South Yorkshire and Merseyside.

A separate nationally representative sample of over 1,000 UK adults was also polled for comparison.

Among Muslim respondents, 49 per cent indicated they would consider voting Green to prevent a Labour victory, while 60 per cent said they would consider backing independent candidates.

The Greens currently enjoy 27 per cent support among Muslim voters, which sits 10 points above the party’s national polling average and 17 points higher than their support among the general population in this survey.

Fourteen per cent of Muslim voters said they would back a Muslim independent candidate in a general election.

The Israel-Gaza conflict emerges as a defining issue separating Muslim voters from the broader electorate.

A quarter of British Muslims polled said the conflict would determine their vote, compared with just five per cent of the general population – making it five times more influential among Muslim voters.

On other matters, priorities align more closely. Cost of living ranks as the dominant concern across both groups, with the economy, education and welfare also featuring similarly in voter priorities.

However, religious identity plays a markedly different role. Sixty-three per cent of Muslim respondents ranked their faith as their most important identity, while only 12 per cent prioritised their British identity.

Among the general population, national identity topped the list at 43 per cent.

The polling uncovered troubling attitudes on several fronts. One quarter of Muslim respondents expressed a favourable view of Hamas, while 28 per cent held an unfavourable opinion.

Views on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were similarly divided, with 23 per cent favourable compared to 20 per cent unfavourable.

Nearly a quarter of Muslims surveyed believed violence could be justified in response to burning the Koran or depicting the Prophet Muhammad, more than double the 10 per cent figure among the general public.

Antisemitic attitudes were notably more prevalent among Muslim respondents.

Twenty-one per cent admitted unfavourable feelings towards Jews, compared with 11 per cent nationally.

Some 45 per cent believed Jews wield excessive influence over the media, while 39 per cent said the same about Parliament – more than twice the national figures.

The research also highlighted concerns about electoral integrity. Fourteen per cent of Muslim voters reported having a postal vote collected by a political candidate or campaigner – a practice now prohibited under the 2022 Elections Act and historically linked to electoral fraud. This figure was nearly double that of the general population.

Dr Rakib Ehsan, lead author of the Policy Exchange report “Understanding Islamopopulism: Views of Concern”, said: “The data shows that the Labour Party is on course to be further punished by British Muslims in the English local elections, with a likely surge of Muslim independent candidates being elected in cities such as Birmingham and towns like Blackburn, along with a number of London boroughs including Newham.”

He added: “The findings show that the UK is far from being a stable multi-faith democracy.”

gbnews

Two people have died and others are in life-threatening condition after a car was driven at “high speed” through a crowd in the city of Leipzig.

Emergency services declared a mass casualty incident in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday afternoon after a car was driven “at high speed” through a pedestrianised city-centre area. Two people are confirmed dead and several more, likely dozens, are injured, two of them critically, after being struck by the driver’s vehicle.

Several dead and injured after person drives vehicle into crowd in Leipzig, Germany pic.twitter.com/40tum7JPTN

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) May 4, 2026

A suspect, said to be the driver, has been arrested. German daily newspaper Die Welt reports a police source stating the suspect is showing signs of mental illness, and that the mayor of Leipzig stated of the incident: “We don’t yet know the exact motive; we don’t know anything about the perpetrator”.

BREAKING: Car rams crowd in Leipzig, Germany; multiple injured pic.twitter.com/0j98Fish4J

— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) May 4, 2026

The car was driven into a crowd in a pedestrianised city-centre area on Monday afternoon, racing down a shopping street and into the market square. The car came to a halt close to the city’s historic Cloth Hall market building.

Whether this incident was an attack or an accident is not clear. But Europe now has years of dark experience with car-ramming attacks carried out for terrorist motives, a technique first honest by Islamists in Israel and then exported to the continent.

breitbart

A prominent Canadian LGBT Pride leader has been found guilty of seven counts of sex trafficking. Despite the jury verdict, Jake Tucker, the founder of Innisfil Pride, maintains his innocence and claims the victims are unreliable and the police “botched” the investigation.

While the publicly-available details on the offenses had previously been limited due to court proceedings, new information from the case paints a disturbing picture.

According to Juno News, the allegations against Tucker first surfaced in 2022 when one woman came forward to police alleging she had been sex trafficked by Tucker for years. Police then located another victim who similarly revealed she had been subjected to sex trafficking by Tucker.

In court, the Crown argued that Tucker advertised the women for sexual services, drove them to and from “client appointments,” and drugged them when they did not want to work. One woman told the court Tucker used a taser on her to force her into compliance. Prosecutors described his actions as “coercive, aggressive and violent.”

Tucker’s defense included accusing the women of lying and being unreliable due to their past substance abuse. He also claimed that it was “impossible” that he had pimped the women, claiming that he would have been too busy to have the time.

On Wednesday, a jury found Tucker guilty on seven of the ten human trafficking and assault charges he had been facing. Tucker was acquitted on three counts of assault, sexual assault, and assault with a weapon.

While speaking to press outside the court house, Tucker admitted to having run a “swingers’ club” but denied it being related to prostitution.

Tucker also alleged that the criminal charges filed against him were motivated by separate issues in family court, but did not offer clarification on what those “issues” may involve.

Tucker is married to a man, and purchased a baby girl via a surrogacy contract with his partner. Tucker has made several social media posts depicting the little girl, beginning in 2018 when he celebrated Father’s Day.

Tucker was the founder of Innisfil Pride, and was very active in the LGBTQ+ activist community in Ontario.

The Innisfil Pride website describes itself as a resource for learning about LGBTQ+ “allies and activists.” “Pride is about coming together as a community to celebrate the freedom to be yourself, to uplift and honour 2SLGBTQ+ activism, and to support 2SLGBTQ+ rights,” reads the site.

“Here you can celebrate some local talent, learn about the allies and activists in your community, as well as a listing of free local events and resources available to you through your local library.”

Disturbingly, Tucker continued to be an active representative of Innisfil Pride even after criminal investigations first began against him in 2022.

According to a Facebook post from that summer, Fierté Simcoe Pride decided to “suspend all collaborations with Innisfil Pride indefinitely” due to the charges, while acknowledging Tucker’s organization was continuing to host local events.

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Innisfil Pride (@innisfilpride)

Social media posts made by Innisfil Pride after Tucker was charged with sex trafficking reveal that he continued to serve as the president while hosting public campaigns. During Pride month in June 2023, the group hosted the town’s Pride flag-raising ceremony at the local City Hall. Other events described on its website are advertised as being for “all ages.”

At multiple Innisfil Pride events, Tucker performed as a drag queen under the name “Anita Goodickyn.”

Tucker is still listed as the President of Innisfil Pride, according to their website.

In 2018 and 2022, Tucker stood as a candidate in Ontario’s provincial elections, both times running in the district of Barrie—Innisfil. In 2018, he represented the Canadians’ Choice Party, a minor right-wing party noted for having multiple candidates vocally supportive of the neo-Nazi movement in Canada.

In 2022, Tucker switched parties to represent the Ontario People’s Front, another right-wing party formed in opposition to COVID-19 vaccination requirements. According to Elections Ontario, Tucker received 184 votes in 2018 and 119 votes in 2022.

Tucker is expected to return to court in May for sentencing.

reduxx

It is no longer a secret that universities have become one of the arenas where some of today’s fiercest ideological battles are being fought: research and knowledge are being subjected to the dictates of wokeism, in defiance of academic freedom—a glorious European legacy dating back centuries. In France, the phenomenon has reached such proportions that lecturers are forced to organise themselves to fight against what sometimes takes the form of relentless harassment.

In many French universities, a climate of intellectual terror prevails that is not—minus the physical elimination—unlike the “terrorism without the gulag,” to use the phrase of the Quebec intellectual Mathieu Bock-Côté during the heyday of the Soviet Union. Some professors and researchers, hounded for non-conformist views and for the content of their courses deemed controversial, find themselves having to defend their case before disciplinary committees where the free exchange of ideas is not the order of the day.

Le Figaro cites the case of a researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), accused of psychological harassment by two of her colleagues—an accusation driven primarily by ideological concerns, which led to an investigation against her, based entirely on evidence supporting the accusations. No room was made for a defense. Her case is not an isolated one. Lecturers and researchers are being reported due to the content of their courses being deemed offensive or not in line with standards of political correctness, and the machinery to crush them is set in motion.

In such cases, no support whatsoever can be expected from the institution. This is why independent organisations have been set up to come to the aid of researchers and intellectuals subjected to such pressures: among them are the ADLA, the Association for the Defence of Academic Freedoms, and the O2ER, the Autonomous Observatory for the Respect of Equity and Integrity in Higher Education and Research. Xavier-Laurent Salvador, a member of ADLA, a professor of modern literature, co-founder of the Observatory of Decolonialism, and known for his contribution to the collective work against “woke obscurantism” in French universities—which was censored by the press—regularly receives calls from colleagues facing reports they consider unfounded. The humanities and social sciences are over-represented. Reports come not only from students but also from other lecturers and prove very convenient for disqualifying a rival in the allocation of a post or a promotion.

The support of these organisations is vital for the professors under investigation. Indeed, they are often subjected to lengthy internal investigations, conducted by peers who have no legal knowledge or sense of fairness, and in which they are given no opportunity to defend themselves. Some incur legal fees to no avail and feel abandoned within a broader context marked by the abdication of university management, who do not wish to get involved in defending their professors and prefer to throw them to the wolves of the most determined activists who lay down the law within the university walls without being accountable to anyone.

On an individual level, the knock-on effects can be dramatic. Such is the case of Caroline Guibet Lafaye, a research director at the CNRS and a recognised sociologist specialising in radicalisation. Two young researchers accused her of failing to sufficiently anonymise certain Kurdish witnesses during her research. Guibet Lafaye found herself caught up in a downward spiral. She was isolated by her superiors, with her colleagues forbidden from contacting her. She eventually ended up being suspended.

Her Ph.D. students lost their supervisor. Her funding was cut off. For a year, the researcher received no salary and had to pay thousands of euros in legal fees to refute the accusations levelled against her. One does not emerge unscathed from such an ordeal.

To guard against such abuses, defence mechanisms are being put in place. Some lecturers go so far as to record their lectures in lecture theatres to be able to prove their innocence, says Fabrice Balanche, himself at the centre of a smear campaign for having expressed his opposition to the organisation of Ramadan iftar banquets at the University of Lyon. Many are calling for investigations to be taken out of the university and handed over to the courts to ensure a minimum of objectivity. Thus, in the summer of 2025, a professor of education at a university in the Île-de-France region, finally lodged an appeal with the administrative court against her university for “harassment, failure to provide protection, conflict of values and obstruction of academic freedom” after years of pressure and harassment: her teaching duties were withdrawn on the basis of reports from students. In 2020, she was accused of Islamophobia following a lecture on secularism delivered a few days after the murder of Samuel Paty.

Lives, careers, and research projects are thus shattered for reasons that are always the same: students denounce lecturers who offend their ‘religious beliefs’; accusations of ‘transphobia’ or ‘Islamophobia’ are brandished as indisputable slogans. The university has ceased to be a refuge for free thought, yet none of the national authorities—the ministry of higher education or the CNRS management—seem to be fully grasping the extent of the problem.

europeanconservative

Less than a year out from France’s next presidential elections, National Rally (RN) party chief Jordan Bardella is doubling down on a core plank of its: Welfare for nationals, first and foremost.

He restated that family benefits would reserved for households where parents hold French citizenship as part of a broader push for “national priority”.

“Under our leadership, social housing will be allocated as a priority to French families who need it most,” he said during his speech on May 1, Labour Day.

“Social benefits will be reserved for French nationals,” he insisted.

Bardella argued that France can no longer function as what he portrayed as a heaven for foreign-born residents.

“France is not a hotel; it is not a social welfare office whose sole purpose is to subsidise the birth rates of other countries on its own territory,” he said.

He went further, criticising the country’s provision of state-funded healthcare to undocumented migrants, vowing to end what he described as a system offering comprehensive free treatment while, he claimed, many French citizens struggle to afford care.

“We will put an end to this scandal of state-funded healthcare, which offers the full range of free treatment to undocumented migrants, even as one in three French persons goes without medical care due to a lack of funds,” he said.

Bardella’s plan on restricting access to social goods is consistent with a long-standing ideological line within the RN.

The President of the right-wing party framed the policy as a question of fairness: Prioritising those who contribute, particularly in areas where housing and public services are under the greatest strain.

Nevertheless, France’s constitutional framework affirms a right to basic means of subsistence for all individuals unable to work, without reference to nationality.

In April 2024, the Constitutional Council leaned on that principle to block a referendum initiative backed by Les Républicans that sought to tighten access to certain social supports for non-French citizens.

The political current appears to be shifting in Europe.

Similar “national priority” measures are beginning to surface elsewhere in Europe, with Spain’s Aragón among the latest regions to move in that direction.

brusselssignal

Foreign inmate gangs have sparked fresh chaos inside an overcrowded Italian prison after a violent brawl at Frosinone left five officers needing emergency hospital treatment.

The confrontation reportedly broke out between two separate groups of foreign prisoners, as verbal abuse and threats quickly escalated into a violent clash involving clubs and improvised weapons.

Prison officers moved in to restore order, but the situation rapidly deteriorated as inmates began using objects inside the facility as weapons.

Five officers were eventually taken to the emergency room at Frosinone hospital with injuries including bruises, cuts, a fractured little finger, and a bruised jaw. They were later discharged with prognoses of around 10 days.

The violence was reported by both the Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union and the Penitentiary Police Union, which warned that the prison is once again facing serious disorder linked to overcrowding, staff shortages, and the presence of violent inmates.

As reported by Corriere della Sera, Angelo Vittiglio, regional deputy secretary of the Penitentiary Police Union, described the incident as “yet another attack” and called for the most troublesome prisoners to be moved to other facilities immediately.

“Immediate transfer is necessary to avoid compromising the peace, order, and security in places where security is increasingly lacking,” Vittiglio said.

The Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union said the episode confirmed the “highly tense situation” already reported after a recent inspection of the facility.

According to the union, inmates threw stools, gas canisters, and coffee machines during the brawl, while others got hold of sharp objects as the violence intensified.

“Only thanks to the professionalism, sense of duty, and spirit of sacrifice of the Penitentiary Police staff was it possible to prevent the situation from further deteriorating,” the union said, warning that the consequences could have been even more serious.

The union also said repeated calls to transfer the most violent inmates had been ignored.

“We have repeatedly urged the transfer of the most violent inmates to other facilities, even outside the district, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the most troublemakers continue to compromise the security and stability of the facility,” it added.

The Frosinone brawl comes amid wider concerns over Italy’s prison system, with overcrowding and staff shortages repeatedly blamed for unrest, assaults, and deteriorating conditions inside detention facilities.

Officers’ unions have warned that prisons are becoming increasingly difficult to control when too many inmates are held in stretched facilities without enough staff to maintain order.

Italy has seen repeated prison unrest in recent years, including riots linked to overcrowding and pressure on detention centers, with officers and other staff members left exposed during the violence, and the crisis has already forced the Italian government to consider politically sensitive measures.

Official figures highlighted by Italian newspaper La Verità in February showed that more than 144,000 convicted offenders in Italy are currently serving sentences outside prison through alternative or community-based measures due to overcrowding.

Of those, 30,279 are foreign citizens, accounting for 21 percent of the total.

Among foreign nationals under supervision, the largest share comes from African countries, accounting for 37 percent of foreign offenders in alternative measures.

By nationality, the largest groups are Moroccans, Albanians, and Romanians, with 4,871, 4,147, and 3,890 convicted offenders, respectively, serving sentences in the community. They are followed by Tunisians, with 1,824, and Nigerians, with 1,464.

In July last year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government weighed the early release of more than 10,000 prisoners in response to severe overcrowding, despite previously opposing so-called “prison-emptying” policies.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said the proposal would merely apply an existing legal provision allowing inmates with less than 24 months left to serve, and who were convicted of non-violent offenses, to complete their sentences outside prison.

Italy also saw a wave of prison riots in August 2024, with overcrowding blamed for violence at detention centers in Turin, Bari, and Rome.

In one incident, prisoners took a nurse hostage, while prison security staff were seriously injured.

rmx