How the EU’s far right has seized on Charlie Kirk’s killing

Leaders from Orban to Le Pen have framed the shooting as evidence of persecution - a strategy that experts say could further normalise extremism across the continent

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Before his fatal shooting, few if any of the leaders of Europe's resurgent far right had so much as mentioned the name of Charlie Kirk. Since last week, the propaganda potential of the conservative US activist's killing has escaped none of them.

Kirk, a rising star of Donald Trump's Maga movement, was hit in the neck by a single bullet as he addressed students in Utah on 10 September. A 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson, has been charged, but his alleged motives remain unclear.