'Hitler Youth' trend reportedly rising in Great Britain
Compounding concerns is the recent appearance of stickers plastered across the streets of Liverpool proclaiming some neighborhoods to be "Nazicontrolled zones."
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: NOVEMBER 21, 2016 12:44Nazi uniforms and a Swastika flag that were confiscated by the Berlin police during raids against German neo-Nazis(photo credit: REUTERS)
A growing number of children across the United Kingdom are being radicalized by far right-wing or neo-Nazi ideology, stoking fears that a new "Hitler Youth" is on the rise, The Daily Mirror reported Monday. Recently released figures by the UK government's anti-radicalization task-force, "Prevent," notes that nearly 300 children across Britain have been referred to the agency over the last year. Of those 300 cases, at least 16 were reported to be as young as 10, according to The Mirror.Prevent is the UK's strategy in fighting radicalization in Britain, which seeks to stop citizens from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.Compounding concerns is the recent appearance of stickers plastered across the streets of Liverpool proclaiming some neighborhoods to be "Nazicontrolled zones."One British parliamentarian has noted that the rate of growth emanating from the extreme-right is now outpacing recruitment into Islamist extremist groups."The Prevent strategy is seeing a growth in far-right referrals," UK Security Minister Ben Wallace recently told MPs during a meeting.“In some areas of the country these Prevent referrals outnumber those about the other parts we are worried about.”According to figures from The National Police Chiefs Council in Britain, the rise of such groups is strongest in the Midlands and the North, with a 74% percent increase in referrals from last year, increasing from 323 in 2014-15 to 561 in 2015-2016.The rise, in part, is attributed to “loss of the center ground” in politics following Brexit and the US election, according to Rashad Ali, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who spoke to Britain newspaper The Times.“Whether it’s on the Left or the Right, the fringes are now leading the debate and the discussion,” he added.