1999–2009
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This is a list of foiled right-wing terrorist attacks. Right-wing terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies, most prominently by neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, white nationalism, white separatism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-government patriot/sovereign citizen, anti-abortionism, and tax resistance. [1]
This article lists far-right terrorist attacks that have been thwarted, either by the security and order services of the various states, or by non-governmental organizations and should not be confused with the list of right-wing terrorist attacks.
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| Date of interruption | Location | No. of arrests | Description of the attempt | Ideologies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2017 | Germany | 2 | 2 German nationalists, Daniel A. and Marcel L. planned a bomb attack against Muslims and asylum seekers. They were arrested by the police in May 2017. [2] [3] | Racism [3] |
| June 2017 | France | 9 (including 3 minors) | 9 members of the modern terrorist organization OAS planned to attack Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Christophe Castaner and places where people of the Muslim faith gather in France. [4] [5] After their conviction and their incarceration, their leader Logan Nisin declared that he regretted his act and had befriended Muslim prisoners who would have saved his life. [6] | Racism [4] Islamophobia [4] Anti-government [4] Anti-left [4] |
| July 3, 2017 | France | 1 | Guillaume M, a 25-year-old nationalist living in Argenteuil, planned an assassination attempt against Emmanuel Macron. [7] He was arrested after declaring his intention on the internet. Prior to his arrest, he repeatedly said he wanted to "finish off" Jews, blacks, gays and Arabs. [8] | Nationalism [8] |
| 1 October 2018 | Germany | 7 | 7 German participants in the "Revolution Chemnitz" terrorist organization are arrested while planning attacks targeting foreigners and left-wing politicians. [9] [10] [11] | Nationalism [9] Anti-left [9] |
| 6 November 2018 | France | 13 | On November 5, 2018, four men met in Serémange: Jean-Pierre Bouyer, Mickaël Iber, Antoine D. and David G. They wanted, with a vague plan, to attack Emmanuel Macron, who was traveling nearby. They were arrested by the DGSI the next day. [12] Between November 2018 and January 2021, thirteen people were indicted on terrorism charges. The members of this small group made virulent, hateful remarks, particularly about immigration, as well as Islamophobic. [12] | Islamophobia [12] Anti-immigration [12] |
| December 19, 2018 | France | 4 | Four individuals, including a neo-Nazi gendarme, have been arrested for plotting terrorist attacks. Their targets specifically included the CRIF (Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions), rapper Médine, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. [13] | Antisemitism [13] Anti-Left [13] |
| Date of interruption | Location | No. of arrests | Description of the attempt | Ideologies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 February 2020 | Germany | 12 | On February 14, 2020, German police arrested 12 far-right terrorists who planned to attack politicians, asylum seekers and Muslim places of worship in an attempt to create a civil war situation in the country conducting to chaos. [14] [15] | Islamophobia [15] |
| 26 May 2020 | France | 1 | Aurélien C, a radicalized former soldier presenting himself as a worshiper of Brenton Tarrant and subscribing to the conspiracy theory of the Great Replacement, planned an attack project against the Jewish community in France. He was arrested by the DGSI in Limoges before he could act. [16] [17] [18] | White supremacism [18] Racism [18] |
| June 2020 | Germany | 1 | A 21-year-old far-right German man who acquired weapons to carry out a "Christchurch-like" attack targeting Muslim places of worship is arrested by German authorities. [19] [20] | Islamophobia [19] Racism [19] |
| March 2021 | UK | 1 | Kurt McGowan, a 21-year-old British nicknamed "Goebbels", was arrested after he shared hate speech online and instigated terrorist acts, [21] including sharing manuals for creating explosives and firearms. [22] He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2023 to seven years in prison. [23] | Racism [22] |
| 31 March 2021 | US | 1 | Seth Pendley, who took part in the January 6 United States Capitol attack with a sawed-off shotgun [24] is arrested after trying to procure explosives to target an Amazon data center in Virginia. [24] [25] He was targeting it for refusing to host the far-right app Parler. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years in prison. [25] [26] | Trumpism [24] |
| 7 May 2021 | France | 6 | Six neo-Nazis were arrested on May 7, 2021, by the DGSI after planning an attempted attack on a Masonic lodge and an attempted assassination of the former Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France. [27] [28] | Neo-Nazism [27] [28] |
| 7 June 2021 | Italy | 12 | The Neo-Nazi organization "Aryan Roman Order" was dismantled in Italy after inciting attacks. [29] They were also trying to attack NATO infrastructure in Italy. [30] [31] [32] | Neo-Nazism [29] [30] |
| September 2021 | Germany | 1 | Susanne G, a German, was arrested in September 2021 after attempting to create a bomb to target Muslims and politicians in Germany; she sent letters containing bullets to organizations helping asylum seekers as well as to Bavarian politicians before being arrested. [33] [34] | Racism [33] Islamophobia [33] |
| October 2021 | UK | 1 | A British teenager has been arrested after planning an attempted attack on police stations, [35] [36] calling for a "racial war" to hasten its arrival. He reportedly renamed himself "Adolf Hitler" on Discord, stating that non-whites were "subhumans," and sought to create napalm. [37] | Neo-Nazism [37] White supremacism [37] Anti-police [37] [35] |
| October 2021 | France | 1 | A high school student admirer of Adolf Hitler planned to carry out a massacre in a mosque in Le Havre and a high school on April 20, 2022, Hitler's birthday. He was arrested by the DGSI. [38] At his home three firearms were found, about twenty knives and notebooks where he "pledged allegiance to the Führer". [39] [40] Before his arrest, he was in contact with nationalists and Islamists. [41] | Neo-Nazism [39] [40] White supremacism [39] [40] |
| 3 December 2021 | Finland | 5 | 5 Finns who planned terrorist attacks in the country were arrested ; some of them were Neo-Nazis. [42] [43] | Neo-Nazism [42] [43] |
| 14 April 2022 | Germany | 4 | 4 Germans who planned to take the Minister of Health hostage were arrested; they would have tried to create a situation of civil war to overthrow democracy. [44] | Reichsbürger movement [44] |
| 4 June 2022 | Australia | 2 | Two Australian neo-Nazis were arrested, Duncan Robert Cromb and Trevor Pay, after having in their possession equipment used to prepare terrorist attacks. [45] They pleaded guilty in 2023. [45] | Neo-Nazism [45] |
| 8 June 2022 | Slovakia | 1 | A 22-year-old Slovak man was arrested in a joint European and American operation. [46] [47] After searches at his home, the police discovered a 3D printer used to print weapons. [48] He would have already committed and accomplished terrorist acts; mainly sabotage. [49] | Neo-Nazism [49] |
| 28 June 2022 | UK | 1 | A 20-year-old man was arrested in the UK after taking part in far-right online groups where he allegedly incited to commit acts of terrorism and filmed himself preparing explosives in his house, which allegedly exploded in front of the camera. He would also have acquired a firearm and called to "execute the minorities". [50] [51] [52] | Racism [50] |
| 27 September 2022 | Iceland | 4 | 4 far-right Icelanders were arrested by Icelandic security forces after they planned an attempted attack. [53] During the searches, dozens of firearms printed in 3D as well as thousands of ammunition were discovered in their homes. [53] This was the first attempted terrorist attack in the History of Iceland. [54] | Racism [53] |
| 28 September 2022 | Belgium | 6 + 1 dead | 6 members of a Flemish far-right group were arrested on September 28, after they armed themselves and attempted to carry out terrorist acts. [55] One of them, Yannick Verdyck, engaged in a shootout with Belgian police before being shot. He kept more than two hundred firearms in his house. [56] | Antisemitism [55] Racism [55] |
| 7 December 2022 | Germany | 25 | 25 members of a far-right movement were arrested as part of a major German police operation. This far-right cell planned various terrorist attacks, including attacking the Bundestag and carrying out a coup. [57] [58] [59] | Reichsbürger movement [57] |
| 9 February 2023 | UK | 1 | A James Farrell was arrested after inciting violence and terrorist acts. [60] He also reportedly shared information to help create guns and bombs suggesting they be used against synagogues. [61] He pleaded guilty. [62] | Neo-Nazism [61] Antisemitism [62] |
| March 2023 | UK | 1 | A 15-year-old Neo-Nazi was arrested in West Yorkshire after planning to murder his former girlfriend and target two mosques with car bombings. [63] [64] [65] | Neo-Nazism [64] Racism / Islamophobia [64] |
Operation Vigilant Guardian was a Belgian army operation following the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks and the dismantling of a terrorist cell in Verviers having foiled attacks imminent, to deal with the terrorist threat and protect the "points" sensitive territory. The operation was put in place 16 January 2015 and ended on 1 April 2021.
Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw was a Flemish neo-Nazi group, created in 2004 from a splinter of the Flemish branch of the international Nazi skinhead organization Blood & Honour.
The insurgency in the Maghreb refers to the ongoing Islamist insurgency in the Maghreb region of North Africa that followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.
Terrorism in France refers to the terrorist attacks that have targeted the country and its population during the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism, in this case is much related to the country's history, international affairs and political approach. Legislation has been set up by lawmakers to fight terrorism in France.
A series of coordinated terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15 p.m., three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during an international football match, after failing to gain entry to the stadium. Another group of attackers then fired on crowded cafés and restaurants in Paris, with one of them also detonating an explosive, killing himself in the process. A third group carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert attended by 1,500 people in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers were either shot or detonated suicide vests when police raided the theatre.
On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 434 others. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian living in France. The attack ended following an exchange of gunfire, during which Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot and killed by police.
The Sid Ahmed Ghlam case concerns the April 2015 murder of Aurélie Châtelain and planning of an Islamic terrorist attack against a church in Villejuif, France, by an Algerian national, Sid Ahmed Ghlam. In November 2020, he was sentenced to life in prison by a Paris court. This sentence was upheld on appeal in October 2021.
Islamic terrorism in Europe has been carried out by the Islamic State (ISIL) or Al-Qaeda as well as Islamist lone wolves since the late 20th century. Europol, which releases the annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend report (TE-SAT), used the term "Islamist terrorism" in the years 2006–2010, "religiously inspired terrorism" 2011–2014, and has used "jihadist terrorism" since 2015. Europol defines jihadism as "a violent ideology exploiting traditional Islamic concepts".
On 4 September 2016, a car containing seven canisters of gas and pages with Arabic writing was found parked near Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris.
Christophe Castaner is a French politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under President Emmanuel Macron. He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman of the La République En Marche! party with Macron's support. Castaner was Government Spokesperson under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in 2017 and Secretary of State for Relations with Parliament from 2017 to 2018. He was also Macron's 2017 presidential campaign spokesman.
On 1 October 2017, a man killed two women at the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille, France. The women, 20-year-old and 21-year-old cousins, were attacked by an illegal immigrant from Tunisia using a knife. Patrolling soldiers, who had been deployed on national soil following an increase in Islamic terrorist threats, shot him dead at the scene. The brother of the attacker was later arrested and faced preliminary charges of suspicion of involvement in the train station attack. French police were cautious as to whether it was a terrorist attack, but it was later classified as jihadist terrorism by Europol.
On 23 March 2018, there was a series of Islamist terrorist attacks in the towns of Carcassonne and Trèbes in southern France. Redouane Lakdim, a 25-year-old French Moroccan, shot the two occupants of a car in Carcassonne, killing the passenger and hijacking it. He then opened fire on four police officers, seriously wounding one. Lakdim drove to nearby Trèbes, where he stormed a Super U supermarket, killing two civilians, wounding others, and taking at least one hostage. He swore allegiance to the Islamic State and demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect of the November 2015 Paris attacks.
On the evening of 11 December 2018, a terrorist attack occurred in Strasbourg, France, when a man attacked civilians in the city's busy Christkindelsmärik with a revolver and a knife, killing five and wounding 11 before fleeing in a taxi. Authorities called the shooting an act of terrorism.
On 3 October 2019, a police employee at the Paris police headquarters stabbed four of his colleagues to death and injured two others. He was shot dead by police at the scene.
On September 25, 2020, two people were injured in a stabbing outside the former headquarters of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The magazine's headquarters had previously been the site of an Islamic terrorist attack in 2015.
On 23 April 2021, a man stabbed a police employee to death at a police station in Rambouillet, France.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.
On 23 December 2022, a mass shooting occurred at three Kurdish locations in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. Three people were killed, and three others were wounded in and around a Kurdish cultural center on Rue d'Enghien.
On May 23, 2023, an individual attacked the LGBT center in Tours, France, with an explosive device containing acid and aluminum. The attack resulted in no casualties as the people inside the center managed to move away from the device. An investigation for attempted murder has been opened.