Home Secretary designates two more far-right groups as terrorist organisations following wave of arrests
As of tomorrow, Scottish Dawn and NS131 will be proscribed terrorist organisations, according an order laid before Parliament by the Home Secretary. Being a member of, supporting or wearing the emblems of those groups will become a criminal offence, carrying a hefty prison sentence.
The announcement comes following a wave of arrests of individuals alleged to be members of another group, National Action including civilians and soldiers. National Action is a deeply antisemitic, violent organisation whose fascist ideology and terrorist operations threaten British society. In February, a 17-year-old member of National Action walked free despite being convicted of preparing a bomb with which to spark an “all-out race war”. It was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in December 2016 following a long campaign by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others. Under section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000, membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation is a criminal offence.
Scottish Dawn and NS131 are both aliases of National Action. Scottish Dawn claims to be a “new identitarian social movement formed from various organisations in 2017 to develop a coherent conception of Scottish identity and secure its place within Scottish politics”. NS131, which also calls itself National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action, claims to be “a platform dedicated to promoting and spreading [National Socialist] street art and physical propaganda”.
The Home Secretary said: “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 radicalisation.” Mark Rowley QPM, Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said it would help to “disrupt and tackle the growing threat from the extreme right-wing.”