Unknown suspect expressed “extreme right-wing ideology” and, according to police, focuses on neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-Semitic material.
Australian police arrested an 18-year-old man who allegedly expressed an interest in a mass accident motivated by a “far-right ideology”.
Police said Wednesday they are awaiting charges against the unidentified man from Albury, a small town 553 km southwest of Sydney.
“The man we arrested has a far-right ideology and focuses on neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-Semitic material,” Australian federal police officer Scott Lee told reporters in Sydney.
“A few days ago we observed an escalation in the sound leading to support for a mass casualty event and possibly its involvement in that event.”
Australia was on high alert against the threat of right-wing violence following several recent attacks, including the massacre of 51 Muslim believers in Christchurch, New Zealand, by a white supremacist gunman from Australia last year.
Increased threat from the far right
Australian intelligence agencies have issued regular warnings of an increased threat from right-wing extremists since the New Zealand attack.
Members of far-right parties have achieved greater electoral success in Australia in recent years.
Pauline Hanson, who campaigned against Asian migration and native Australians in the 1990s, was re-elected to the Senate in 2016 on a political platform hostile to Muslims and refugees.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party called for a travel ban from Muslim countries, a boycott of Halal-certified products – especially chocolate Easter eggs in 2017 – and an end to “government funding of radical Islamic politics disguised as” art and culture ” is. ”.
Hanson said that Islam is a political ideology.
In 2018, Hanson introduced a motion in the Australian Senate condemning so-called “anti-white racism”. The motion stated, “It’s okay to be white” – a slogan adopted by white supremacists – and was narrowly rejected. 28.
Several ministers voted in favor of the motion and later apologized, blaming an “administrative error”.
Comments are closed.