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| Britain | |
| Referrals to UK counter-terrorism scheme double after recent attacks: Police | |
| 2017-08-10 | |
| [AlAhram] Referrals by members of the public to the British government's counter-terrorism scheme have doubled since Lions of Islam launched deadly attacks earlier this year in London and Manchester, a senior police official said on Wednesday. Simon Cole, the National Police Chief Council's lead front man on deradicalisation efforts, said police had received around 200 referrals to the strategy known as "Prevent" from members of the public since March when Britannia suffered the first of four deadly attacks. Officials said that this figure was around twice the numbers of referrals that "Prevent" representatives around Britannia had received in the months prior to the attacks. "Even though these referrals from the public are increasing, we still need more people to have the confidence to tell our safeguarding experts if they are worried about someone's behaviour," Cole told news hounds. Prevent has long been the most controversial strand of the government's attempts to stop Britons from becoming involved in violent extremism following its introduction in the wake of the July 2005 suicide kabooms by four British Islamists on London's transport network. Many Moslems believe it has been used as a tool to spy on their communities rather than simply sway potential Lions of Islam from becoming radicalised.
"All of us involved in Prevent need to work to improve that public confidence and understanding, challenging damaging myths and be more transparent in our approach," Cole said. "We would rather people show concern before something happens." Britannia is on its second highest threat level, "severe", meaning another attack is highly likely. In March, a man killed five people after driving a into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London before stabbing a policeman to death outside parliament. That was followed by a suicide kaboom at a pop concert in Manchester which killed 22, and the following month eight people died after three Islamist Lions of Islam drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed people at nearby restaurants and bars. Two weeks later a van was driven into worshippers near a London mosque which left one man dead. Cole said the number of referrals made to "Prevent" by members of the public was still relatively low, with 500 made in 2016 and 2017 compared to an annual total of about 6300. The other referrals were made by government or police bodies or other public organizations. The programme had helped the authorities stop about 150 people from travelling to Syria in the past year, Cole said, adding about 55 to 60 percent of referrals were related to possible involvement by British individuals with Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... krazed killers. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... another 15 percent were related to right-wing extremism. Officials said that the number of referrals about suspected right-wing murderous Moslems had doubled since the murder in June last year of British politician Jo Cox, who was killed by a loner obsessed with Nazis and white supremacist ideology. | |
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