{"id":94502,"date":"2026-09-04T17:46:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=94502"},"modified":"2026-09-04T17:46:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:46:35","slug":"spanish-far-right-activists-use-nazi-style-salutes-in-anti-migrant-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/spanish-far-right-activists-use-nazi-style-salutes-in-anti-migrant-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish far-right activists use Nazi-style salutes in anti-migrant protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By SHIRA LI BARTOV<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014&nbsp;MADRID \u2014 Dozens of far-right activists raised their arms in Nazi-style salutes and sang a Spanish fascist anthem in the heart of Madrid on Wednesday, amid protests against the government\u2019s handling of migration.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_94503\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292710085.avif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-94503\" class=\"wp-image-94503\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292710085.avif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-94503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">N\u00facleo Nacional demonstrators raise their arms during a rally in Barcelona, Spain, September 2, 2026. (Albert Llop\/NurPhoto)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Between 60 and 70 members of N\u00facleo Nacional, an ultra-nationalist anti-immigrant group, participated in Madrid during mass demonstrations across Spain, a spokesperson for the group told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The protests were in response to an influx of migrants from Morocco into Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The broader demonstrations in Madrid were called by Spain\u2019s conservative People\u2019s Party and far-right Vox party, drawing about 50,000 people to the streets, according to government estimates. The protests were planned for Ceuta Day, a holiday marking the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta from the Marinid Sultanate of Morocco in the 15th century, beginning centuries of Portuguese and later Spanish rule.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>N\u00facleo Nacional activists were shown on video making the outstretched-arm gesture associated with neo-Nazi movements and chanting, \u201cCeuta is not for sale, Ceuta will defend itself.\u201d They also sang the song \u201cCara al Sol,\u201d a fascist anthem from 1935 that became central to the regime of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from 1939 to 1975. N\u00facleo Nacional denied a link between their gesture and Nazi history.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">\u203c En directo: grupo ultra n\u00facleo nacional, en el Congreso, haciendo el s\u00edmbolo nazi y cantando &quot;cara al sol&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udde3 A gritos de: &quot;Ceuta no se vende, Ceuta se defiende&quot;, &quot;Pedro S\u00e1nchez, Hijo de p***&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcac &quot;Yo cuando era joven nos manifest\u00e1bamos para tener derechos, ahora se\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/atDQDCRiqU\">pic.twitter.com\/atDQDCRiqU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Malas Lenguas (@MalasLenguas_Tv) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MalasLenguas_Tv\/status\/2095223255934050565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The demonstration ended in clashes between protesters and police, with four people arrested and four police officers injured, according to local authorities. Protesters were also shown on camera grabbing, pushing and cursing at multiple journalists who were covering the rally.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Francisco Mart\u00edn Aguirre, the delegate of the Spanish government in Madrid, condemned \u201cthe violent acts that occurred at the end of the gatherings in Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll respect to those who legitimately and peacefully protest for the cause they deem fit,\u201d he said on X. \u201cViolence is never the way and those who daily incite it are also responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for N\u00facleo Nacional told JTA that the group was not performing a Nazi salute, but an \u201cIberian or Roman salute.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt represents our ancestors,\u201d the spokesperson said. They added that the group was protesting to \u201csupport the people of Ceuta.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The outstretched arm salute in Nazi Germany was inspired by a gesture popularized in the 1920s in Italy\u2019s fascist movement, which later allied with the Nazis. The Italians called it a Roman salute, though researchers say there is no evidence linking it to ancient Rome. Franco also instituted the gesture in 1937, then instructed Spaniards to abandon it in 1945 after the Axis powers lost World War II.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More than 72,000 Moroccan migrants crossed into Ceuta between July 30 and July 31, with at least 100 people dying in the attempt. Most have returned to Morocco, but some 5,000 remain in makeshift shelters or on the streets and beaches, inflaming tensions between migrants and local residents and heaping pressure on the left-wing government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<p>N\u00facleo Nacional has about 2,000 members, many from neo-Nazi and Francoist groups that lost their capacity to mobilize, according to the Global Network on Extremism and Technology. The group has grown rapidly and opened four regional branches since its founding in 2024. Earlier this year, it registered a political party as Noviembre Nacional.<\/p>\n<p>The group pledges to defend the white race, Christianity, the Spanish nation and Europe against foreign and domestic enemies, including migrants, internal independence movements and \u201cmulticultural globalism.\u201d Spain\u2019s Civil Guard last year opened an investigation into N\u00facleo Nacional after it posted a video calling for groups to \u201cactively defend\u201d the streets and \u201cjointly fight against the invasion\u201d of immigration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>N\u00facleo Nacional leaders have also denied the Holocaust and suggested that Israel orchestrates migration to Europe, according to the Observatory of Antisemitism, a Spanish watchdog organization. N\u00facleo Nacional said in a 2024 statement, \u201cAny Spanish patriot should not forget that it is Israel that is financing the Maghrebi invasion to which all of Europe is being subjected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On N\u00facleo Nacional\u2019s social media channels, it has claimed that it is targeted by \u201cthe Jewish-Zionist lobby in Spain\u201d and accused the \u201cinternational Jewish-American financial elite\u201d of \u201cbuying up Spain at bargain prices while ruining us.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Spanish%20far-right%20activists%20use%20Nazi-style%20salutes%20in%20anti-migrant%20protests\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":94503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[15341,8790,8795,3366,8788,2739],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94504,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94502\/revisions\/94504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}