What is Deport Them Now - the neo-Nazi collective trying to burn down a town in Spain?
Spanish intelligence services, who have arrested one of the organisation's leaders in Barcelona, suggest that this international platform, which was born only two months ago, has galvanised the xenophobic anti-immigration protests in a surprising way
Three letters coincide in most of the Guardia Civil's latest report on the xenophobic mobilisation taking place in the Murcian town of Torre Pacheco in Spain: DTN. They are an acronym for Deport Them Now - an international platform that, until just a few weeks ago, was totally unknown to the Spanish security forces, but which has surprisingly galvanised the anti-immigration protests.
From what the Ministry of the Interior has learned, Deport Them Now does not have infrastructure in Spain, although it does have newly-emerged leaders, one of whom was arrested in Barcelona on Tuesday, 15 July.
The intelligence experts of the armed forces suggest that the DTN's rise is a "typical social media boom" - a "fashionable" organisation, which has even "eclipsed", thanks to its "agility" and the influence of other national extremist actors that have marked the path of ultra mobilisations, with a pull among the most radical such as Dani Esteve and his Desokupa or Alvise Pérez with his 'Se Acabó La Fiesta' (The Party's Over).
DTN recently called for "active defence" of the streets and "a joint fight against the invasion" of immigrants - messages spread on the 'Núcleo Nacional' platform. According to the Guardia Civil, DTN activists coordinate through Telegram chats, which keep on appearing and disappearing. On Tuesday, the largest of these channels had almost 15,000 members and radical messages popping up every few seconds.
Hate slogans
Many of these messages are nothing more than hate slogans, but others do provide key information to further encourage xenophobic protests in Torre Pacheco, such as maps showing the location of areas with a North African majority (not to be confused with roma areas), urban guerrilla tactics or ways to reach the population without being detected by the armed forces deployed throughout Murcia.
These channels were set up in mid-May, following the Remigration Summit 25, which was held in Gallarate (Italy), a few kilometres from Milan. The convention claimed to be an "identity meeting" and brought together neo-Nazi activists, radical far-right and openly xenophobic influencers and members of ultra parties from all over Europe.
No Spanish ultra party was present at the convention, which was attended by the Portuguese Chega, the French Reconquête or Alternative for Germany. However, individual Spanish "ultras", who the Guardia Civil believe to be behind this new platform, did attend.
Deport Them Now's most 'ambitious' and threatening action so far took place on Sunday, when they published an open call for a "hunt" for immigrants on 15, 16 and 17 July in Torre Pacheco.
Upon searching the home of one of the suspected leaders in Barcelona, the Guardia Civil seized two computers. Although the Ministry of the Interior stated that it has deleted the abovementioned post and closed the Telegram channel, the message had already spread to sub-channels.
