Britain outlaws white-supremacist Feuerkrieg Division as terrorist group

The neo-Nazi organisation advocates the use of mass murder ‘in pursuit of an apocalyptic race war’ and UK supporters can be jailed for 10 years

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel speaking in the House of Commons in London on July 13, 2020. Britain on Sunday pledged £705 million ($890 million, 788 million euros) to prepare its borders for cutting ties with the European Union on December 31. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS
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Far-right group Feuerkrieg Division has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK, meaning that its supporters could face up to 10 years in jail.

The British government described Feuerkrieg Division as a white supremacist group that advocated the use of mass murder and violence “in pursuit of an apocalyptic race war and promote their ideology online, often using social media platforms to target teens and people in their early 20s”.

The group was founded in late 2018 and is active in North America and Europe. Last September UK police arrested a 16-year-old follower of the group on terrorism charges.

In response Feuerkrieg Division disseminated a list of police buildings to be attacked and an image of a senior police officer with a gun pointed at his head and the words “race traitor” across his eyes.

Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this week asked Parliament for permission to proscribe the group.

“This vile white-supremacist group advocates violence and seeks to sow division, targeting young and vulnerable people online,” she said.

“I am determined to do everything I can to stop the spread of extreme ideologies that encourage and glorify terrorism, which is why I have taken action to proscribe this group.”

Senior antiterrorism police officer Tim Jacques said that while far-right terrorism was growing rapidly, it still had a relatively small footprint in the UK.

“We will continue to use every power at our disposal to arrest and charge those who support this group and those like it, but we can only hope to beat this insidious ideology by stopping young and vulnerable people from following the path towards extremism in the first place,” he said.

Feuerkrieg Division has been described as heavily influenced by Atomwaffen Division, another neo-Nazi terrorist organisation that was founded in the US in 2015 and has been linked to a series of murders and planned attacks.