While the number of attacks and deaths carried out in the name of radical Islamic ideology in Europe has remained low in recent years, arrests for related activities have been creeping up.
Police forces around Europe seem hooked on the habit of collecting information on a massive scale and forwarding it to the EU's police agency, Europol. This undermines privacy, fair trial rights and the presumption of innocence.
Extremists using COVID pandemic to polarise societies - Europol Daily News (via HT Media Ltd.)
THE NETHERLANDS: Violent extremists are abusing the coronavirus pandemic to polarise societies, spread hate propaganda and exacerbate mistrust in public institutions, Europol warned in a report on Tuesday.
Since Covid gripped the world in early 2020, there has been “a notable increase in intolerance of political opponents, while the number of individuals conducting verbal or physical violence is also increasing,” Europe’s policing agency said.
The rise of right-wing extremism is of special concern, the Hague-based Europol said, pointing to at least one failed right-wing extremist attack in Belgium linked to opposition to the government’s Covid-19 measures.