Last weekend we once again saw violent protests break out across Europe - even in usually peaceful Switzerland!
In Germany, the cities of Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg all saw the police use water cannons to try and quell violent looting and disperse protesters. And while the demonstrations were ostensibly led by students protesting substandard educational provision and social inequality, Germany’s interior Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, was quick to blame the violence and general chaos on exploitation by leftwing extremists and members of the immigrant community - the latter claim being backed up by Andreas Rosskopf, chairman of the GdP's federal police division, after his comments were attacked.
Albania too saw an eruption of violence, with black-clad, masked protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and paving stones at the police, which Prime Minister Edi Rami blamed on the deliberate radicalisation of young people “by dark forces in Europe and the US”.
And in France, where demonstrations against the failing educational system and the sky-rocketing cost of living and energy prices started the move some three weeks ago, violent protests once again erupted. This time, in Paris, there were a mere 770 arrests (compared with some 2,400 a fortnight ago), but French prosecutors have now launched an attempted murder investigation, after highly incendiary and powerful Molotov cocktails were thrown directly at the police. One police officer, whose leg was set on fire, told French newspaper Le Figaro, “We faced hostile individuals who are not protesters. These adversaries are there with the intent to harm those who represent the State.”
Yet again, the violence was attributed to far-left activists no doubt seeking to smash the system, fight the police, and bring down the government - indeed President Macron promised action against “those who sought to bring down the Republic”. According to the left-leaning publication, The Local: “Many of the looters come from France's disadvantaged and racially mixed suburbs but are mainly French - the children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants.”
Similar demonstrations have taken place more widely across Europe, including in Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Serbia, but, so far, the UK seems to have escaped. How long that may continue, however, appears debatable. Organised student and youth protests are now being called for in London, Manchester and Edinburgh for 20 November, and they are being widely advertised as ‘massive’ on social media sites. Pro-Palestine activists, joining with hard-left organisations, are explicitly calling for French-style protests.
This is of concern because, as we have seen, the French authorities and press have identified ‘les casseurs’ – literally, ‘the breakers’ – as activists driven by hatred for the establishment. As a part of that, it should be noted that the Jewish community in France was particularly targeted, with widespread reports of deliberate attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses, the prominent display of Palestinian flags, and chants of ‘Intifada’ (Uprising) as they daubed pro-Palestinian graffiti on vandalised buildings.
The reality would then appear to be that what started as a legitimate protest movement by ordinary men and women against the rising cost of living has been hijacked by the hard Left in unholy alliance with others who hate Western civilisation, turning an entirely valid protest into a broader revolutionary movement aimed at destabilising society and destroying Western culture. However you look at it, this is a clash of cultures, and the alarming rise in anti-Semitism, evident since the October 7 attack on Israel, should be a wake-up call. Western civilisation - our democratic values, culture and way of life, along with our beliefs - are under attack from and by an enemy that seeks our total destruction and which seeks dominance and our subjugation.
Worryingly, however - at least here in the UK - we are, or choose to remain, blind to this. The way forward, we are told, is a multi-faith culture, in which Christianity is not just no longer relevant, but must be actively suppressed. Sounds far-fetched? Maybe, but take a look at the number of arrests of people who have dared voice their beliefs in public, read verses from the Bible, or even - horror of horrors - dared to pray silently on the street.
The truth is, across Europe we are seeing the emergence of an increasingly authoritarian society, within which pressure is being exerted by enemies, united by hostility to our civilisation, Christian belief, and culture. Unlikely bedfellows though they may be, far-left activists and Islamists - that we, out of misplaced ideas of tolerance and inclusivity, have not just allowed but actively encouraged to take root - are joining together to try and destroy our culture from within - with the long-term aim of driving out Christianity and taking over.
If nothing else, the riots now sweeping across Europe like some foul contagion demonstrate (a) that Western culture is under attack, and (b) that the enemy is within. Unless we recognise that fact and take action to stop it, at source - once again standing on our faith - we will fall.
