European far-right leaders have heaped praise on Charlie Kirk, the influential 31-year-old conservative activist who was fatally shot on Wednesday, with several also claiming his death was a consequence of violent leftwing rhetoric.
Kirk, a rising star of Trump’s Maga movement and leader of the rightwing student group Turning Point USA, was struck in the neck by a single bullet as he addressed a large student crowd at Utah Valley University.
“Charlie Kirk’s death is the result of the international hate campaign waged by the progressive-liberal left,” Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, alleged in a social media post on Thursday.
“This is what led to the attacks on [the Slovak prime minister] Robert Fico, on [the Czech former prime minister] Andrej Babiš, and now on Charlie Kirk. We must stop the hatred! We must stop the hate-mongering left!”
US police and federal agents continued an intense manhunt for the sniper believed to have fired the gunshot, but no suspect has so far been identified or arrested and nothing is known about the shooter’s motives.
Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, denounced what he called the “dehumanising rhetoric of the left and its intolerance”, which he said “fuel political violence”. Bardella added: “No one can ignore this poison that is eating away at our democratic societies.”
In Germany, Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, posted that Kirk was “a fighter for freedom of speech” who had been “shot by a fanatic who hates our way of life and discussion”. She sent her condolences to Kirk’s family.
The leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, reposted a rightwing accusation that leftwingers were justifying Kirk’s death because of his “horrible ideas”, adding: “I’ve already lived through it. Some point and others shoot. Since censorship isn’t enough for them, they resort to murder.”
Trump blames ‘radical left political violence’ for killing of Charlie Kirk – video
Other far-right leaders praised Kirk’s ideas. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right Freedom party (PVV), reposted a social media comment by Kirk in which the activist had called Islam “the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America”.
Wilders, who has a conviction for insulting Dutch Moroccans, added that Kirk was “100% right here. Out of respect for him and his bravery I repeat his true words that are valid for Europe as well: Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of Europe.”
Sarah Knafo of France’s small far-right Reconquête party said the ultranationalist Europe of Sovereign Nations group in the European parliament, which includes the AfD, had nominated Kirk for the Sakharov prize, the EU’s highest tribute to people fighting for human rights and freedom of thought.
Knafo called on all the parliament’s groups to “unite to honour [Kirk’s] memory and say no to violence”.
The conservative former British prime minister Boris Johnson said Kirk’s murder was “a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument”. The activist had been killed “not for espousing extremist views –because he didn’t”, Johnson added. “He has been killed for saying things that used to be simple common sense. The world has a shining new martyr to free speech.”
Italy’s conservatives were notably more restrained. The deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini of the far-right League, called Kirk “a proud supporter of freedom” who was killed defending his ideas at a public meeting. “It is terrible,” Salvini said. “One cannot die in this way. A prayer for him and a heartfelt embrace to his family.”
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said the news of Kirk’s death was “shocking. A heinous murder, a deep wound for democracy and for those who believe in freedom.” She sent her condolences to Kirk’s family and “the American conservative community”.
Outside Europe, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Kirk had been “murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom”, describing the activist as “a lion-hearted friend of Israel” who “fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilisation”.