White Nationalist Richard Spencer Banned From 26 European Countries, Polish State Media Reports

A leading figure in the U.S. white nationalist movement said Wednesday that he hasn't received government confirmation of his reported ban from entering more than two dozen European countries.

• White Nationalist Asks to Speak at University of Michigan
• Spencer’s Israeli Ethno-state Is a neo-Nazi's Nightmare
• Poland Condemns Racism, but Defends Weekend Nationalist March

Poland's state-run news agency PAP says Polish authorities banned Richard Spencer from entering 26 countries in Europe's visa-free Schengen area for five years. The news agency cited unnamed sources close to Poland's Foreign Ministry.

Spencer previously was banned from the Schengen zone for three years after his 2014 arrest in Hungary, where he had planned to host a conference.

Spencer told The Associated Press he would try to contest a new ban.
"I'm being treated like a criminal by the Polish government. It's just insane," he said. "I haven't done anything. What are they accusing me of?"

Spencer popularized the term "alt-right" to describe a fringe movement that's a loose mix of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigration beliefs.

In August, he was scheduled to speak at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman.

Spencer said he canceled plans to travel to Poland for a far-right conference in Warsaw earlier this month after seeing reports the government was threatening to keep him out of the country.

"It just didn't feel like it was worth it," he said.

Last month, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski described Spencer as someone "who defames what happened during World War II, defames the Holocaust."

"He should not appear publicly, and especially not in Poland," Waszczykowski said.

Besides Poland, the 26 Schengen countries also include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.