LONDON —
UK lawmakers on Tuesday warned of a growing threat from right-wing extremists,
and urged the military and police to tighten background checks.
اضافة اعلان
The parliamentary
Intelligence and Security Committee said in its annual report that the
phenomenon had been steadily increasing since 2017, with tech-savvy young men
driving the rise.
A growing number
of young people under the age of 24 were now on the radar of the UK domestic
security service MI5 investigating extreme right-wing terrorism (ERWT), it
added.
Of the 25 attacks
which the security services and counter-terrorism police prevented between
March 2017 and January 2020, eight were motivated by an ERWT ideology.
“The new ERWT
threat is fragmented and complex, increasingly driven by the internet and
characterized by a technologically aware demographic of predominantly young
men, many of them still in their teens, who are typically ‘self-initiated
terrorists’,” the report said.
Few of the
individuals suspected belong to organized groups and are as a result difficult
to identify and monitor.
“Their motivation
can be highly individualistic, according to their particular personal
circumstances, the nature of their grievances and perceptions of their own
capabilities,” the MPs said.
“The new ERWT threat is fragmented and complex, increasingly driven by the internet and characterized by a technologically aware demographic of predominantly young men. ...”
“Determining how,
why and when they may choose to attack is therefore particularly challenging,”
the report said.
But the MPs, who
scrutinize the work of the intelligence agencies, said the military and police
needed to do more to weed out actual and potential far-right followers.
Far-right
extremists often display an interest in military culture, weaponry and the
armed forces or law enforcement organizations, and either join or try to
recruit in their ranks.
The UK armed
forces, however, do not provide clear direction to service personnel regarding
the membership of any organization, “let alone an extremist one”, the committee
said.
This “appears a
somewhat risky approach,” given the sensitive roles of many service personnel,
it added.
It also said there
was “particular concern” about a similar risk in the police because of a “lack
of thorough background checks”.
The committee has
previously criticized the government for failing to probe possible
Russian meddling in UK politics, including the 2016 Brexit referendum.
On Tuesday, its
chairman Julian Lewis said it was “deeply disappointed” that the government
failed to provide information on time for it to scrutinize.
The delays had
hampered its ability to provide statutory oversight, he added.
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