The global impact of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was put on full display on Sunday as tributes poured in from across Europe to honour his legacy as a champion of freedom of speech.
While tens of thousands gathered in State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Sunday for the memorial of Charlie Kirk after he was assassinated last week at Utah Valley University during a student debate event, thousands more paid tribute to the 31-year-old American activist throughout Europe.
According to the Metro, thousands gathered in London’s Hyde Park to honour Kirk in a memorial organised by the Turning Point UK organisation that Kirk founded in 2019.
Marching to Speakers’ Corner, the symbolic centre of free speech and debate in England, mourners waved British and American flags, sang Amazing Grace, and chanted Christian slogans such as “Christ is King”. Turning Point UK CEO Jack Ross is quoted as telling the crowd that Kirk was a “modern day martyr” who “stood up against censorship and tyranny, and won.”
Tributes were not confined to Britain, however, with a vigil being held for Kirk in central Budapest on Sunday evening.
Hungarian MEP András László said: We remember and pray for Charlie Kirk in front of St Stephen Basilica in Budapest.
“May Charlie rest in peace and may his martyrdom be a turning point for many people around the world.”
In Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini dedicated a rally for his populist Lega (League) party in Pontida on Sunday to the memory of Charlie Kirk. Members of the crowd were seen holding signs reading “I am Charlie Kirk” and several speakers wore Turning Point USA t-shirts featuring Kirk.
Taking to the stage, Salvini urged the crowd to devote “not just a minute of silence, but a thought to Charlie Kirk and an applause that reaches Arizona” as screens displayed images of the American activist.
Italian MEP Roberto Vannacci told those in attendance: “We have to be the heirs of Charlie Kirk, we have to do what he did, we have to take our principles and ideas everywhere.”
Separately, at a youth festival in Fenix, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also paid tribute to Kirk, who she said was “dangerous because he dismantled the narrative of the mainstream with logic. He had to be stopped because he was free, brave and capable and people like that scare those who think they can impose their convictions by force”.
The Italian PM — who like Kirk has long faced accusations of being a “fascist” — condemned the “global left” that spread “hatred” against Kirk following his death.
Supporters of the Lega Party hold posters reading “I am Charlie Kirk” during the party’s annual rally in Pontida, northern Italy on September 21, 2025. (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI / AFP) (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the president of France’s populist National Rally party, Jordan Bardella also addressed the killing of Kirk, which he said was a “shock for millions of American citizens, but also for millions of people in Europe who followed his videos.”
“The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a symbol: the symbol of the return of violence in politics. This violence did not come out of nowhere, it is the work of the radical left, the most extreme left. This new political totalitarianism legitimises hatred against millions of honest people whose only crime is loving their country and wanting to preserve it,” the 30-year-old French populist leader lamented.
“It legitimises hatred against its political opponents, portraying them as monsters or fascists. It dehumanizes everyone who doesn’t think like them. And the more it loses the support of the people, the more it radicalizes. It is time, all over the world, for us to stand up against the danger of the radical left, to wage this ideological battle directly and firmly. By taking Charlie Kirk’s life, they killed a man. But they will not have destroyed, for those who supported him, his legacy and his memory,” Bardella declared.
“This legacy is also the unwavering defence of freedom of expression and the rational debate of ideas, with respect for individuals and their sensitivities. This legacy is the right to love one’s country and family, the right to defend it. It is also the protection of the fundamental freedoms that the West has developed to their highest degree throughout history. So, this legacy will live on as long as there are patriots in the world to keep it alive.”
