MORE far-right extremists than Islamists are being flagged up to Scottish programmes to lure them away from terrorism, The Herald can reveal.
Figures from Police Scotland show 15 individuals on the fringes of the far right were referred to de-radicalisation schemes in 2016-2017.
That is compared to eight vulnerable individuals formally referred under so-called “Prevent” strand of Britain’s Contest counter-terror strategy in 2015-16. And it tops the entire intake of 13 people who were identified as being at risk of international extremism, including Islamism, in the last financial year.
The new figures come amid growing global concerns about the rise of the far-right, which has backed Donald Trump’s Republicans for mid-term Congressional elections and helped ultra-conservative Jair Bolsonaro secured the Brazilian presidency.
Anti-fascist campaigners Hope Note Hate stressed formal far-right groups are on the decline in the UK but said their ideology was thriving online. A Scottish vlogger headlined at a Dutch far-right conference last weekend.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel