Poland's New Border Vigilantes and the Aesthetic of Nationalist Self-Staging
How right-wing extremist fan groups stage migration as a threat and mix online propaganda with physical presence.
Image: Social Media
By: Viktoria Waldvogel
In early July 2025, Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania, a move Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described as a reaction to Germany's unilateral actions and an effort to control migrant flows, as reported by German news outlets Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk. Prior to this official announcement, far-right ultra football fan groups and other patriotic civic organisations had already begun staging symbolic border patrols at key crossings under slogans such as 'defending Polish borders'. These individuals are not part of official forces, many are known football ultras with a history of violence, acting under the banner of patriotism.
Posts circulating online suggest that actors from the hooligan scene are aligning themselves with a broader nationalist narrative aimed at demonstrating vigilante justice and portraying migration as a national threat. While there is no public evidence of formal coordination, repeated imagery, slogans and hashtags indicate a shared strategy of visual self-staging and algorithmic reach. Accounts such as Władcy Trybun and trending hashtags such as #StopNielegalnejMigracji follow recognisable patterns, combining football aesthetics, nationalist messaging and emotionally charged language.
In this context, the border becomes more than a site of policy enforcement, it becomes a symbolic stage. This report illustrates how football-related groups frame masculinity as an expression of vigilance and control, and how the lines between real-life protests and online propaganda are increasingly blurred.
Digital Narrative: Generating a Threat Through Staging
A cornerstone of the initial online push was a professionally produced video by the bare-knuckle fighting brand GROMDA, posted on the 7th of July 2025. Geolocated to a petrol station at the Görlitz border crossing, the video features shirtless, muscular men staring threateningly towards the camera. The significance of the video lies in its strong symbolism. It visually represents a non-state takeover of a sensitive border zone and conveys the clear message of a non-state authority. The verbal message is an unmistakable threat: ‘We are defending the Polish borders, so that nobody forces their way in here uninvited, therefore to all pseudo-engineers... you enter here at your own risk.’ The video’s algorithmic success was immediate and immense, counting over 2.6 million views on X, alongside hundreds of thousands of likes and comments across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Although Intel Focus cannot verify whether the accounts behind the comments are real or bots, the overwhelmingly positive comments praising the group’s ‘strength’ and for ‘doing what the government won’t’ suggests that this sentiment resonates beyond the immediate hooligan scene.
Figure: Geolocation of the video (N51° 09.024' E015° 00.086') near Zgorzelec Bridge, Görlitz
The video was filmed in front of a petrol station before the town bridge of Görlitz between Zgorzelec and Görlitz. See the matching petrol station, border sign, and red and white spiked pole to the right of the bridge.
A second key tactic is the decontextualization of older content to fit the current narrative. A photo showing a masked man from HFA (Hooligans from Arka Gdynia) on an overpass in Gdynia with a banner reading "POLSKA TO NIE ZOO" (Poland is not a zoo), a dehumanizing slogan aimed at migrants, was shared widely in July 2025 as if it were a direct response to the border situation. However, analysis confirms a simple reverse image search revealed that the image is not new. It was first posted online five months prior. This practice of "re-staging" old visuals is a powerful form of misinformation. It creates the illusion of a widespread, spontaneous, and current movement when, in fact, it demonstrates a calculated effort to construct a narrative.
Figure: Geolocation of a photo that shows a banner above a dual carriageway, 6 km from Arka Gdynia's stadium. Coordinates: 54°31'24"N 18°28'35"E
At the heart of these posts, circulated during July, is the use of derogatory terms such as ‘pseudo-Inżynierowie’ (pseudo-engineers). The term, which emerged after 2015 to poke fun at official claims that skilled migrants were coming, is now an important part of the group's internal signaling. It serves to delegitimize the government's policies, dehumanize migrants and rhetorically elevate the protesters as defenders of the ‘real’ workforce and Poland's security.
The anti-migration narrative has proven powerful enough to unite violent rival hooligan groups, previously unthinkable in the Polish ultra scene. Fans of ŁKS Łódź (Lodz Sports Club) and Widzew Łódź (Widzew Lodz Football Club), were documented marching side by side. This unity was celebrated by various posts such as the post from Wladcy Trybun and @KlaudiaDomagala, a Polish politician and activist affiliated with Kobiety Konfederacji (Women of the Confederation), a women’s initiative linked to the far-right Konfederacja coalition, who writes: "The heart rejoices that when the overriding goal is Poland and our safety, it is possible to act above divisions!" A similar scene unfolded in Katowice, where local media reported that supporters of the clubs GKS Katowice, Górnik Zabrze, Ruch Chorzów, GKS Tychy, Zagłębie Sosnowiec, Piast Gliwice, ROW Rybnik, Polonia Bytom, and GKS Jastrzębie planned to march together “arm in arm.” The report highlighted the unusual nature of this alliance: “In everyday life, they hate each other so much that they organize vicious raids in rival cities, beating up random passersby.” This unity is a significant development and shows the ideological strength of the anti-migration movement.
Figure: This video (Rival Łódź Fans Marching Together), uploaded in TikTok on 10.07.2025. ‘
Caption translation of the above figure: ‘The fans of Widzew together with the fans of LKS passed the maturity exam perfectly with 5 stars to represent one colour together. The red-white🤍♥️ march took place without incidents and the supporters from Lodz proved that they can unite for a good cause. A delegation of Polonia Warszawa fans was also present in Lodz. Polska🤍♥️’
Figure: A post on Facebook on the same date as 10.07.2025 that shows Wladcy Trybun celebrating the united protest in Lodz
Caption translation of the above post: ‘On 09.07.2025 a protest was held in Lodz on further education of engineers. The event was attended by fans of Widzew (+/-300) and ŁKS (+/-500) without spite. A delegation of Polonia Warszawa fans was also present. Further events in various cities of the Republic are coming soon.’
The stadionwioprawcy (meaning “stadium thugs” or “stadium perpetrators”) account on Instagram was also observed celebrating the ultra groups uniting in Katowice with a post on 13 July, 2025 with a caption that translates to:
“ [....] All fan groups in Upper Silesia decided to march together!
We wanted to invite all those to whom the well-being of our country and the safety of our women and children is at heart, to a joint march as a sign of opposition to the current situation. [...]”
Figure: A post on the Instagram account of the stadionwioprawcy on 13.07.2025
From Blurry Political Lines to Criminal Contradiction
The recent anti-migration protests in Poland were supported by many ultra groups and thousands of citizens. According to reports by German outlets such as RND and Spiegel, the rallies were initiated by the far-right party Konfederacja and took place in Warsaw and around 80 other cities on 19 July 2025. Accordingly, most rallies remained peaceful. However, in Warsaw, police intervened when right-wing hooligans from the football club Legia Warsaw attacked a group of counter-demonstrators. The protests unfold in a political climate where nationalist messages often go unchallenged, making it harder to separate grassroots action from political endorsement.
President Karol Nawrocki's background adds further complexity. Though he has distanced himself from his documented past in the Lechia Gdańsk hooligan scene, online accounts now use his image to legitimise the protests. In July 2025, the Czech platform Hooligans.cz posted a screenshot of an old video that allegedly shows Nawrocki with ultras. While the image's authenticity is debated in online comments, there has been no official public refutation of the claim. Still, the post frames his election as symbolic proof that the subculture has entered mainstream politics. As such imagery circulates online, the lines between street mobilisation, political rhetoric, and state power become increasingly blurred.
Also important to mention, on 13 July 2025, the Polish Border Guard (Straż Graniczna) issued a public statement on X, explicitly calling out a viral video as disinformation and stating that calling the Border Guard ‘an Uber for illegal migrants is spitting on our uniform.’ This highlights the direct clash between the state's narrative and the one being constructed by the vigilante network, confirming the real-world impact of their online campaign.
One of the sharpest contradictions in the patriotic self-image of some border vigilante groups lies in their documented links to serious organised crime. In 2025, Silesian police, supported by Europol and border agencies from Germany and Belgium, dismantled a criminal network composed of Polish football hooligans. The group was involved in drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and the smuggling of hundreds of migrants along the Balkan route, earning around €1,000 per smuggled person. While claiming to protect the Polish border, members of this network were profiting from the same migration flows they publicly condemned. This hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed by the Polish press. In a sharply critical article ahead of a planned protest in Katowice, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza highlighted this very issue.
Digital Amplifiers and Transnational Reach
It appears that pages like Władcy Trybun (Rulers of the Tribunes) on Facebook and @polskie_ekipy (Polish Crews) and stadionowioprawcy (Stadium Thugs) on Instagram are instrumental in coordinating and amplifying these activities. They share protest schedules, upload stylized videos, and create a coherent visual identity for the movement, posting slogans like “Wake up, Poland!” or “Germany, hands off the Polish border”, often using trending hashtags like #StopMigracji, #StopNielegalnejMigracji, #BezpiecznaPolska, #Granica, and football chants repurposed for anti-migration messaging.
Figure: On Instagram, @polskie_ekipy posted a banner from a demonstration in Łódź: ‘Start acting before the wave of migration overtakes us! Wake up Poland!’
In addition, the digital infrastructure is not confined to Poland but is part of a broader, pan-European network. The Czech-based platform Hooligans.cz, aside posting about the Polish protests, also promotes and documents similar vigilante actions in other countries. On July 13, 2025, the account shared a video of what it described as ‘Spanish hools now patrolling the streets, as tensions with migrant groups continue to escalate.’ This framing demonstrates that the Polish activities are presented as one front in a wider European ‘defense’ against migration.
Figure: A post by a Czech based Hooligan account on X/ Twitter promoting vigilante actions in other countries.
The visual language used by hooligan groups isn’t isolated. It closely resembles that of other far-right actors in Poland, such as Ruch Obrony Granic (Border Defence Movement) short ROG, a border vigilante group led by far-right activist Robert Bąkiewicz. While ROG isn’t directly connected to football fan culture, its online presence uses similar imagery: flags, uniformed marches, and hashtags like #StopMigracji. This overlap points to a shared visual and rhetorical style across parts of the Polish far right. Though there’s no clear coordination, groups like ROG and militant fan scenes appear to draw from each other, mixing on-the-ground action with digital messaging to reinforce a hostile narrative around migration.
The recent mobilisation of Polish hooligan and ultra-nationalist groups shows how digital platforms can amplify fringe movements and push them into the mainstream. While not formally coordinated, their visual style and messaging closely mirror broader far-right narratives, turning nationalist ideas into viral content. Designed for maximum reach, their posts rely on patriotic slogans, provocative imagery, and emotional language to attract attention and shape public opinion. Within Poland, these groups undermine trust in state institutions by presenting themselves as more committed and effective defenders of the nation than official forces. By staging scenes and circulating misleading or decontextualised content, they blur the line between genuine activism and propaganda, making it harder for the public to assess what is real.
Internationally, these dynamics risk damaging already sensitive ties with neighbouring countries, particularly Germany. Vigilant border patrols and viral claims foster suspicion and hostility, with real consequences for cross-border cooperation and daily life. This case illustrates how non-state actors can use algorithm-friendly content to influence political discourse, challenge democratic institutions and create friction across national borders.
