Britain plans to ban US-based neo-Nazi group

Priti Patel asks Parliament to proscribe white supremacist Atomwaffen Division AKA National Socialist Order

Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked Parliament to ban the Atomwaffen Division. AFP

The British government is proposing to ban a US-based white supremacist group and classify it as a terrorist organisation.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked the UK Parliament to proscribe the Atomwaffen Division neo-Nazi group.

The group, which formed in 2015, was said to have disbanded last year but reformed as the National Socialist Order.

Ms Patel is proposing to ban both organisations and make it a criminal offence to be a member of or invite support for either group, with those found guilty facing a sentence of up to 14 years in prison under the UK's new counter-terrorism and sentencing bill.

The Atomwaffen Division promoted the use of violence to trigger a race war and was linked to two banned neo-Nazi groups in the UK.

It claimed it had disbanded in March 2020 following pressure from US law enforcement agencies, but in July 2020 the National Socialist Order announced itself online as Atomwaffen's successor.

"The British government assesses that it is the same group operating under a different name but adhering to the same twisted ideology as it did when it was called Atomwaffen Division," the Home Office said.

The terrorist group has inspired other loosely affiliated groups abroad, including Feuerkrieg Division, which the UK proscribed and classified as a terrorist organisation in July 2020, it said.

Ms Patel described the group as "vile and dangerous".

"Vile and racist white supremacist groups like this exist to spread hate, sow division and advocate the use of violence to further their sick ideologies," she said.

"I will do all I can to protect young and vulnerable people from being radicalised, which is why I am taking action to proscribe this dangerous group."

She said banning the Atomwaffen Division and labelling the National Socialist Order as its alias would support police work to disrupt the threat posed to the UK's national security by such groups.

The proscription order will now be debated and, subject to approval, will come into force later this week.

White supremacist content found online

Researchers from the Counter Extremism Project discovered content on Instagram from the group.

"CEP researchers located several pieces of neo-Nazi and white supremacist content on Instagram," it said.

"Videos included a clip from an infamous National Action propaganda video on the site for approximately 43 weeks, viewed more than 100 times, and two identical videos containing still images originally from the Atomwaffen Division.

"A song praising the Christchurch attacker and using an image glorifying him was also located on the site, uploaded one week ago with more than 220 views, and a recreation of the Christchurch attack in a videogame was on Instagram for six days with 140 views."

A neo-Nazi Telegram channel created on April 12 to spread downloadable white supremacist videogames was also found.

Four games uploaded in the first three days of operation allowed the player to kill people of different ethnicities and religions.

"Extremist games allow groups and individuals to advertise and spread ideology, encourage the dehumanisation of their perceived opponents, portray violence as positive and further spread propaganda," the CEP said.