Britain to proscribe two more neo-Nazi groups as terrorist organizations
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd emphasized the importance of the ban in ensuring public safety and preventing radicalization.
By EYTAN HALONUpdated: SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 19:53Far-right demonstrators clash with police officers during a march in Leicester, central England, October 9, 2010.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Britain will add two more neo-Nazi groups to its list of proscribed terrorist organizations, the British government announced on Thursday.The parliamentary order, which will come into force on Friday, will proscribe Scottish Dawn and NS131 (National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action) as terrorist organizations, considering them to be aliases of the already-banned neo-Nazi group National Action.National Action became the first far-right organization to be proscribed under anti-terror legislation by British Home Secretary Amber Rudd when it was banned in December 2016.The notorious National Action hate group praised the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in June 2016 by a British citizen with links to US-based neo-Nazi group National Alliance and inferred that the June 2016 attack on Orlando's Pulse Nightclub should be emulated. Banners saying "Hitler was right" have appeared at rallies and, in November 2016, a youth spokesperson for the group was filmed speaking about "the disease of international Jewry" at a far-right rally.British Home Secretary Amber Rudd emphasized the importance of the ban in ensuring public safety and preventing radicalization."National Action is a vile racist, homophobic and antisemitic group which glorifies violence and stirs up hatred while promoting their poisonous ideology and I will not allow them to masquerade under different names," said Rudd."By extending the proscription of National Action, we are halting the spread of a poisonous ideology and stopping its membership from growing - protecting those who could be at risk of radicalization," she added. "Our priority as government will always be to maintain the safety and security of families and communities across the United Kingdom and we will continue to identify and ban any terrorist group which threatens this, whatever their ideology."Earlier Thursday, British police said they arrested 11 men on suspicion of a range of terror-related offenses of as part of an inquiry into National Action. Thursday's announcement follows the arrest of four British soldiers earlier this month on suspicion of being members of the group, despite stringent security clearance procedures put in place by the British Armed Forces to check recruits' political backgrounds.According to the British Home Office, the group's ideology "promotes the idea that Britain will inevitably see a violent ‘race war’, which the group claims it will be an active part of."The proscription of the two groups brings the number of proscribed organizations under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000 to 73.
Proscription makes it a criminal offense to commit acts including belonging, or professing to belong, to a proscribed organization in the UK or overseas and inviting support for a proscribed organization. Penalties handed out for belonging to such groups can reach a maximum of 10 years in prison and/or a fine.
