Europe's nationalist leaders kick off year of election hopes
Source: Associated Press
Jan. 21, 20179:38 AM ET
KOBLENZ, Germany (AP) Declaring that 2017 will be the "year of the awakening of the people of continental Europe," French far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen joined fellow nationalists Saturday at a conference in Germany to a show of populist confidence as Europe faces a series of high-stakes national elections.
Populist parties have been surging in polls in Europe and the leaders' mood was celebratory as they came together in support of one another, the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president following a campaign buoyed by anti-establishment and protectionist themes.
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Left-wing protesters staged a sit-in outside the hall shouting slogans like "No border, no nation, stop deportation."
Not far away, demonstrators from the global AVAAZ activist group placed statues of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Josef Stalin, among others, in front of a landmark statue of German Kaiser Wilhelm.
Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2017-01-21-EU--Europe-Nationalists/id-d3ab43e2d381458ea2a1bbcf4e8da2d1
From The Guardian:
France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called on voters across Europe to “wake up” and follow the example of US and British voters.
Speaking at an unprecedented meeting in Germany of Europe’s rightwing populist parties, she said Brexit would unleash an unstoppable wave of “all the dominos of Europe”. And after Brexit, she added, before an audience of several hundred, the election of Donald Trump was a “second coup”.
“His position on Europe is clear. He does not support a system of the oppression of peoples,” she said, to enthusiastic applause. “2016 was the year the Anglo-Saxon world woke up. I am certain 2017 will be the year when the people of continental Europe wake up.”
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The rightwing parties from across the continent have previously been cautious about meeting in public, with cooperation limited by their individual nationalist policies. Often, if cross-border meetings did take place, they were held in private or kept very low-key.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/21/koblenz-far-right-european-political-leaders-meeting-brexit-donald-trump
This is....ominous.
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