At least 16 members of the armed forces have been referred to the UK’s terrorism prevention programme – in the majority of cases because of concerns about far-right activity. The figures reveal 14 investigations were carried out in 2019 into serving armed forces personnel. Racist hate crime within the armed forces included an incident at a British army base in Cyprus last year when a black soldier found racist graffiti sprayed on his car. Despite a military police investigation, the MoD said this week that “charges were not able to be brought”. Concerns were also raised by members of the Commons home affairs committee, including Diane Abbott, who described the referrals as “extremely worrying”.

Source: The Guardian May 31, 2021 17:26 UTC