Children under the age of 10 in the U.K. are being investigated over their links to far-right extremism, Sky News has found.
Home Office figures show a dramatic rise in the number of under-18s referred to the government’s counterterrorism program Channel over concerns about their possible involvement with the far-right.
A total of 682 children were referred for this reason in 2017-18, compared with 131 in 2014-15 — a more than five-fold increase, according to figures obtained through a freedom of information request.
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The total for 2017-18 includes 24 children under the age of 10.
For the first time since the data has been recorded, there was an equal balance in the number of cases linked to the far-right and those linked to Islamic radicalization in the year up to March 2019.
Out of 5,738 referrals across all age groups, 1,404 (24%) were for concerns related to Islamist radicalization and 1,389 (24%) related to right-wing radicalization
The bulk of referrals, 62%, were related to young people up to the age of 20.
Read more at Sky News.
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