Banned far-right figure stages Border stunt

A prominent Austrian far-right political activist, banned from entering the UK, travelled to rural west Cavan last week to hand a copy of his book across the border into Northern Ireland.

Martin Michael Sellner, leader of the Identitarian Movement of Austria posted a video online showing himself standing beside the Cavan county boundary sign at Blacklion.

“If I go just one step further, I might go to prison for 12 months,” Sellner explained in reference to his permanent exclusion from the UK by the Home Office in 2019. British authorities said at the time Sellner’s presence was not conducive to the public good, citing concerns over preventing social harm and countering extremism.

Sellner has previously been refused entry to the UK attempting to attend a conference organised by like-minded groups.

Holding a measuring stick to illustrate the short distance to the border and the risk of breaching the UK entry ban, Sellner described his visit to hand a copy of his book across the frontier as a “symbolic act”.

“Because I want to show the UK, and really any totalitarian system in Europe, that with censorship and border blocking, they cannot stop the spread of ideas,” he said.

The co-founder and de facto leader of Generation Identity went on to reference the murders of Henry Nowak and three young girls killed in Southport, incidents followed by widespread civil unrest in parts of the UK, before criticising the British government’s decision to bar individuals such as him from entering the country.

“This is crazy. The UK has turned into a prison island, a police state,” Sellner claimed. “But we will not take this any more.”

In the video shared, he then hands a copy of his book to an individual who attempted to conceal their face before walking back across what appears to be the border into Fermanagh. “We will not stop challenging your censorship and we will not stop fighting for freedom of speech,” Sellner said.

Sellner was contacted directly by The Anglo-Celt for comment. According to his social media posts, Sellner had intended to travel to Pettigo, Donegal, another village on the border, but said he was unable to do so because of “traffic”.

Instead, he diverted to Blacklion, sharing posts along the way praising Irish scones and documenting other impressions of Ireland, including “a beautiful oak tree” - a recognised symbol with longstanding significance in German nationalist tradition.

Sellner, who is widely regarded as a leading figure within the Neue Rechte (New Right) movement, was in Ireland to attend the Irish National Party’s international conference.