Free Republic

The number of flags flying from lamp-posts has significantly reduced in the last year after hundreds were taken down, according to a city council. In a public meeting on 19 October, Bristol City Council said the number of St George and Union flags on lamp-posts have fallen from more than 1,000 to 371. Flags first started being put up across the country in 2025 following the nationwide social media movement Raise the Colours campaign. ... Since the summer of 2025, thousands of St George flags have appeared in towns and cities across England, with individuals and groups behind them saying...

Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel said on Monday that the ongoing protests in France are a "warning signal" for Germany, as growing unrest in France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Albania threatens to spill over into other European countries. "The violent excesses in France are a warning signal for Germany. Here too, civil war-like conditions are looming due to the dangerous mix of mass migration and left-wing extremism. Only with the AfD will there be a migration turnaround," Weidel said in a post on X. Meanwhile, Germany's Foreign Ministry warned its citizens to exercise "caution" and avoid "demonstrations"...

'A MUSLIM CITY': Trump's controversial warning about Paris

As the footage of violent French riots circled the globe this weekend, American conservatives are warning that the same destruction could come to American shores. The threat, as they see it, comes from the burgeoning Red-Green Alliance, a partnership between the far-left and Islamists. A powerful visual of the purported alliance was on display in France this past weekend as crowds waving Palestinian flags protested and rioted alongside French communists and other far-left groups. At the center of the international promotion of France's unrest sits the network funded by left-wing donor Neville Roy Singham, whose groups were central boosters of...

President Donald Trump warned Monday that Paris is on course to become a “Muslim city very soon,” blaming France’s escalating unrest on mass immigration and saying he had repeatedly urged French President Emmanuel Macron to close the country’s borders. “Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House as France grappled with days of violent riots, looting, and arson. Trump said he had warned Macron about the consequences of his immigration policies years before the latest unrest. “Emmanuel, he’s a friend of mine. I told him a...

From the upper floors of Millbank Tower, a skyscraper overlooking the River Thames in London, the U.K. Houses of Parliament are just a few hundred yards away. For decades, the building housed the headquarters of Britain's Conservative Party, one of the world's oldest political parties. Today, it is home to Reform UK, the right-wing populist party led by Nigel Farage that is hoping to — and by some measures may already have — replace the Conservatives as the dominant force on the British right. The change of occupants reflects a wider political upheaval sweeping some of Europe's biggest democracies. In...

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged France to close its borders in response to the ongoing violent protests there, blaming immigrants "with hatred in their hearts," as French President Emmanuel Macron is set to "solemnly" address the nation. Protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools have rocked France since September 28, with many leading to violent clashes, fires and looting. On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country with riot police responding. Photos have captured dramatic scenes of burning cars and trash bins, shattered shopfronts and plumes of smoke rising all...

Italy, like France, witnessed a day of protests on Saturday — several turning violent — as some Italian politicians blamed the extreme left for the lawlessness. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took to social media to condemn the unrest and back law enforcement. Meloni wrote on X: "Once again, the women and men of the Law Enforcement Forces have had to face the violence of criminals who, even through organized groups, exploit demonstrations to seek confrontation and sow chaos," she posted.

The roof collapsed onto lower floors as anti-government protests over cost of living entered their fourth week across France ... A historic building in the French town of Limoges, about three hours south of Paris, has been "largely lost" after it was set on fire by rioters as demonstrations continue across France. The Limoges Town Hall was built in 1883, and was made a historic landmark in 1975. "The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared," ... Macron leaves office in six months. ... Masked groups also attempted to...

For years, one of the favourite pastimes of Britain's bien-pensant establishment has been to laud France, often at the expense of this country. In their telling, France is seen as progressive and smart, the apex of European culture and the master of infrastructure, while these islands are condemned as parochial. But the scenes from France in recent weeks have surely put paid to that fantasy. France's decline is obvious and largely of its own making. Socialist economics has led to stagnant growth, punishing taxes and a state that consumes well over half of national output. A profligate pensions system, with...

Let's unpack the latest dystopian tech news—and German cops' dystopian response.We've reached the point in techno-dystopia where autonomous humanoid robots are out assaulting girls in the street—or so some coverage of a recent incident in Cologne, Germany, might have you believe. But dig into what really happened, and it's human actions that appear more worrying. For dystopian police-state flavor, we've got Cologne cops warning that simply commenting about this on Facebook in an unapproved way could be criminal. Without specifying exactly what kinds of comments are off limits or what law might be broken, the North Rhine-Westphalia Police of Cologne...

Police have seized a robot in Germany after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl's buttocks and 'made thrusting motions against her'. The 'assault' was reportedly livestreamed outside a fast food restaurant in Cologne on Sunday. The 1.2m tall red and gold automaton is believed to have approached the teenager from behind when she was standing with a group of friends. The incident was then reported to police who found the robot hidden in the boot of a VW car. Officers have now launched a criminal investigation as it is believed the automaton was being 'remote-controlled'.

1879 Reichsrevolver with a homemade ejector rod and optical sight. The 1879 Reichsrevolver was adopted by the German military a few years after German unification. Author attached a red dot optical sight without modifying the revolver. It is clamped on, with no metal removed. Ejector rods were separate. The one above is homemade.Consider the pistol the revolvers were to replace, the Kavalleriepistol M 1850. It is about .59 caliber, firing a 267 grain round ball from a smooth bore, contained in a paper cartridge with about 67 grains of black powder.Interpolating from data measured at the YouTube channel capandball, the...

The AfD on Tuesday became Germany's first far-right party to win the post of speaker in a state parliament since World War II, when its candidate was elected in an eastern region. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) took nearly 44 percent of the vote last month in Saxony Anhalt state in the former communist East Germany, easily beating the centre-right CDU of unpopular Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Newly elected state lawmakers gathered for the first time Tuesday in parliament in the state capital Magdeburg to elect a speaker, with the AfD's candidate Tobias Rausch winning 48 votes, with only 29 against...

August Hanning, the man who once led Germany's spy service, is now under investigation for passing on state secrets. Police have arrested the former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor's office announced Tuesday. Hanning served as the agency's chief from December 1998 to November 2005 before moving to the Federal Interior Ministry, where he worked as state secretary until November 2009. According to a statement from the prosecutor's office, the 80-year-old faces charges including espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and working as a secret service agent. It did...

School strikes are taking place across Germany to protest against the possible reintroduction of compulsory military service. One of the organisers of the strike, Bela Breitner, from School Strike Against Compulsory Military Service said the federal government was "serious about gradually reintroducing compulsory military service". At one protest in Hamburg, demonstrators waved flags and held up banners emblazoned with the words "We won't take part in your wars". German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made boosting Germany's military a priority following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A new law introducing voluntary military service came into force in January, with the aim of...

Recent historic election victories appear to be putting wind in the sails of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which continues to widen its lead over the establishment and expand its support base. After two major first-place finishes this month in the local elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the anti-mass migration AfD has seen its lead over the supposedly centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz grow to its largest in history. According to the first national survey after Sunday’s elections, the AfD has seen its support rise to 29.5 per cent, a record high recorded by...

NATO endorsed an agreement between the US and Denmark to expand Washington's military presence in Greenland, potentially forestalling President Donald Trump's demands to take over the Arctic territory. The agreement provides a potential US veto power over Russian and Chinese investments on Greenland, makes permanent Washington's military presence, and allows for more US bases. The deal notably falls short of American ownership — an earlier demand by Trump that had strained NATO to its breaking point. The deal should "begin the process of healing," Atlantic Council experts said, though the specter of US aggression against treaty allies kicked off a...

BERLIN — Germany’s embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his conservatives suffered a second major defeat to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a regional vote Sunday — a result Merz conceded was a “disaster.” But the chancellor moved to quickly quell a rising storm of speculation that he would move to step aside following the loss, which comes only two weeks after another historic defeat to the AfD in a regional contest. He appeared before cameras just minutes after the polls closed Sunday to say he would continue to push through his reform agenda and act as an anchor...

The Great Greenland Crisis has ended, and Donald Trump has declared victory. Last Friday, the president announced that he had reached a deal with the Danes that would give “the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.” The barren, icy prize is finally ours. Or is it? Despite the usual bluster, bravado, and social media posts showing Greenland colored in with the Stars and Stripes, Trump’s avowed aim of annexation was not accomplished. The Dannebrog will still flutter in the Arctic breeze. According to a statement put...