Far-right extremists targeting UK to spread hatred around world

Far-right extremists are ‘weaponising internet culture’ in an attempt to spread ideas of hate around the world, and the UK is their next target, The Independent reports. Researchers who spent three months undercover inside European and American movements said Britain was seen as the key to linking radical movements in the EU and US. Julia Ebner, a research fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), told The Independent members of the ethno-nationalist Identitarian movement met in London with the aim of starting a new British branch. Austrian co-leader of Generation Identitaire, Martin Sellner, and American alt-right activist, Brittany Pettibone, were believed to be among the key figures who attended the meeting. Ebner said the extremists were also interested in setting up branches in Ireland and Scotland, saying that they’ve seen there is a vacancy there. Official figures suggest Britain is an increasingly fertile ground for the divisive ideology, with police figures showing dramatic rises in hate crime as around a third of extremists referred to government programmes are from the far-right. A new ISD report warns that the Identitarians, American alt-right and other far-right extremists are increasing collaboration, while ‘weaponising internet culture’ to target the youngest and most easily manipulated members of society. The Identitarian movement, which originated in France, is rapidly expanding, focusing on the preservation of European culture and identity. Ebner said some extremists have been kicked out of the movement from a ‘PR perspective’ with policies banning Nazi symbols officially. Ebner said: “They have learnt to be very careful how they portray the movement publicly but inside their channels you see a very different rhetoric. “It’s really interesting to listen to them try to mainstream their views as publicly acceptable.”