Antifa: Research Digest

Date saved: 2026-10-26 12:17 (PDT)

Sources: ItsGoingDown.org, Unicorn Riot, CrimethInc, Searchlight Magazine, DW, WMNM, Epigram, Brussels Times, ABC News, Southern Poverty Law Center, HOPE not hate, Bellingcat

Key findings

France: counter-protests against National Rally convention, antifascist mobilization

DW (October 2026): Clashes broke out between protesters and police in cities like Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, with police deploying tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds. French police deployed more than 70,000 police and elite security forces across France to contain the unrest. French unions and protest groups have called for fresh demonstrations on October 31 and a nationwide strike on November 5 to maintain pressure on the government. French authorities detained 1,314 people during nationwide protests on Saturday, according to a provisional Interior Ministry tally. The ministry said 53 police officers and other security personnel were injured, firefighters responded to 75 fires, and 24 businesses were looted. The reported arrests and violence were substantially lower than on October 17, when authorities recorded 2,628 detentions and 1,144 injured security personnel. The ministry blamed groups including radical far-left activists for confrontations along or near protest routes. Authorities counted 410,000 participants at 289 demonstrations and gatherings, down from 550,000 a week earlier. In Orleans, south of Paris, protesters also came out to the streets against a two-day congress held in the city of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party. The protest in Orleans against the National Rally is against racism, fascism, and imperialism. Protesters carried signs expressing solidarity with the leftist Antifa movement and the Palestinians. (Source)
Al Jazeera (October 2026): Marine Le Pen vows French renaissance as far right eyes seat of power. The far-right figure's words were met with cheers from thousands of supporters gathered in Orleans in central France on Sunday, as she launched her presidential campaign against a backdrop of mass demonstrations and widespread social and economic discontent. France has been shaken by a wave of protests since mid-September, a movement sparked by high school students in a Paris suburb that grew into a nationwide mobilisation tapping into widespread discontent. Over the past two weekends, largely peaceful protests have been accompanied by episodes of violence on a scale rarely seen in recent years. On October 17, shops were looted and ransacked, and more than 2,000 people were arrested as hundreds of thousands took to the streets of French cities. (Source)

UK: far-right ecosystem under investigation, Searchlight Magazine dispatches

Searchlight Magazine (October 24, 2026): A 12-year-old girl was among five people injured when a gunman launched a deadly shooting spree west of Paris, apparently targeting victims because of their race or perceived religion. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 23, 2026): An undercover investigation has exposed the sinister underworld connections of Turning Point UK boss Jack Ross, who was filmed apparently brokering contract killings through a convicted criminal linked to the UVF. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 21, 2026): Andover insurance businessman Joel Kirby, prominent in the local patriot group, rather proves the point that money may buy flashy cars and a mansion, but it cannot buy class. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 20, 2026): ITV's devastating undercover investigation exposed the hatred and violent fantasies lurking within Nigel Farage's party, along with a cynical determination to conceal its true politics from voters. Concentration camps, summary executions and lies to the voters: the ugly truth behind Reform's polished image. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 20, 2026): Far-right YouTuber Simon Tomlin has grand plans to bring the British National Party back from the dead, with help from a former National Front chairman. Even Nick Griffin says he's a fantasist. Far-right Walter Mitty plots BNP revival that not even Nick Griffin wants. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 19, 2026): As part of the Jewish community's contribution to commemorating the 90th anniversary of Cable Street, historian Martin Sugarman delivered a passionate account of the often overlooked Jewish contribution to the International Brigades. Remembering the Jewish volunteers who fought fascism in Spain. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 16, 2026): A 19-year-old self-proclaimed neo-Nazi has been charged with plotting a racially motivated massacre at a Hindu temple near Chicago. Prosecutors say only a malfunctioning rifle prevented the attack. Neo-Nazi's planned temple massacre only thwarted when gun jammed. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 16, 2026): Once able to attract notorious international fascists, Patriotic Alternative's annual conference this year was a distinctly downmarket affair, with familiar homegrown faces providing the entertainment at a Nottinghamshire village hall. (Source)

Movement media: ItsGoingDown, Unicorn Riot, CrimethInc dispatches

ItsGoingDown.org (October 2026): Central region coverage includes Proud Boys marching with neo-Nazis in Denver while community members mobilized. Texas Antifascist News reports on a recent action in Austin, Texas to demand that AT&T fire Proud Boy Dustin Casler. Report from ongoing anti-ICE actions in Aurora, Colorado. Report from a recent antifascist action in Houston, Texas that includes a video. After long time neo-Nazi organizer and local real-estate agent Paul Preston was outed by Screwston Antifascist Committee, a group of antifascists organized. Antifascists in Texas out a local neo-Nazi connected to the group Patriot Front. (Source)
ItsGoingDown.org (October 2020): This Week in Fascism #77: Back the Blue Rally in Mansfield Salutes Hitler; GOP Operatives Work to Suppress Voters of Color. Members of the neo-Nazi group Nationalist Social Club-131, an off-shoot of Patriot Front, rallied in Mansfield, Massachusetts, standing in solidarity with a Back the Blue rally. Neo-Nazis threw up Hitler salutes right in front of the other demonstrators, while counter-protesters rallied against them. (Source)
Unicorn Riot (October 23, 2026): TikTok Revolt in France: A New Generation Takes to the Streets. (Source)
Unicorn Riot (October 19, 2026): How the Proud Boys Lost Their Name. Nearly six years ago, the Proud Boys vandalized a historically Black church's property during the unrest following the 2020 Presidential Election. The case resulted in the group losing the trademark to their name, but it didn't end there. (Source)
Unicorn Riot (October 13, 2026): Jake Lang's Tour of American Courtrooms Continues. White supremacist agitator and violent J6er Edward Jacob Jake Lang Zoomed into a court hearing in St. Paul on October 9 as the Minnesota state government argued its case against him for kicking over an ice sculpture reading Prosecute ICE in front of the state capitol building in February. (Source)
CrimethInc (October 22, 2026): Introducing the NSPM-7 Defendants Union. (Source)
CrimethInc (May 3, 2026): May Day Black Blocs and a Car Bombing. Spring comes to Portland, Oregon. (Source)

Counter-protests and mobilizations: Bristol, Brussels, Paris racist terror

Epigram (October 9, 2026): Counter-demonstration dwarfs anti-migrant side at College Green protest. Around 250 counter-protesters arrived at College Green, in response to a protest publicised by anti-migrant group Bristol Rises, which had posted Antifa scum off our streets. Counter-protesters included students, Bristol locals, and representatives from Stand Up to Racism, The National Education Union, Industrial Workers of the World, Student Action for Refugees, and the Revolutionary Communist Party. Chants included 'Labour, Labour, shame, shame. Racist crimes in your name!' and 'Siamo tutti antifascisti.' Around one hour into the protest, there was an altercation between a counter-protester and a police officer. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that on Friday, a man in his late teens was arrested in connection with an assault on October 5. (Source)
Brussels Times (October 25, 2026): 150 people arrested during Brussels riots. Police in Brussels arrested 150 people after riots broke out on Saturday following a protest against cuts in French-speaking education. The rioters caused significant damage in the city centre. Five officers from the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone suffered minor injuries. Police stop antifascist protesters in Anderlecht but unrest continues. (Source)
Searchlight Magazine (October 24, 2026): A 12-year-old girl was among five people injured when a gunman launched a deadly shooting spree west of Paris, apparently targeting victims because of their race or perceived religion. The fatal shooting in Paris suburbs was investigated as a racist terror attack. (Source)

SPLC fraud charges, WMNM Meta payments to anti-LGBTQ accounts

WMNM (October 20, 2026): Ahead of the midterms, Meta has paid at least 29 anti-LGBTQ accounts for their posts. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated several individuals in Meta's program as extremists. These include Tucker Carlson, who has agreed with claims that gender-affirming care allows adults to basically molest and abuse children; James Lindsay and Jack Posobiec, who helped popularize groomer rhetoric against LGBTQ+ people; and Alex Jones, whose infamous conspiracy show InfoWars received an invitation prior to its acquisition by The Onion. (Source)
Lawfare (April 22, 2026): Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted on Federal Fraud Charges. (Source)

The antifascist movement this week is operating across three continents and multiple fronts: street counter-mobilization against far-right conventions, legal defense infrastructure for defendants facing federal charges, investigative journalism tracking the far-right ecosystem, and mutual aid for prisoners. The movements are not centrally coordinated, but they are connected by shared intelligence and a common enemy.

In France, the counter-protest against Marine Le Pen's National Rally convention in Orleans drew thousands under the banner of opposing racism, fascism, and imperialism, with demonstrators carrying signs expressing solidarity with the leftist Antifa movement and the Palestinians. The French government deployed 70,000 police officers for the far-right convention weekend. In Belgium, Interior Minister Bernard Quintin accused far-left activists, including people linked to Antifa, of infiltrating demonstrations over education reforms and budget cuts. In the UK, counter-protesters in Bristol faced off against anti-migrant demonstrators who had posted Antifa scum off our streets, with the counter-demonstration dwarfing the anti-migrant side.

The far-right ecosystem the movement tracks is expanding. Searchlight Magazine documented a neo-Nazi plot to massacre a Hindu temple near Chicago that was only thwarted when the attacker's rifle jammed. Turning Point UK's leader was caught in a murder-for-hire sting, apparently brokering contract killings through a convicted criminal linked to the UVF. The British National Party's attempted revival is led by a far-right YouTuber whose own plans even Nick Griffin calls fantasy. In Canada, prosecutors say only a malfunctioning rifle prevented a racially motivated massacre at a Hindu temple.