Far-right fanatics on rise in Scotland as number of police alerts increase

The number of dangerous right wing extremists in Scotland flagged up to police is on the rise.

Figures show the UK Gov­ern­ment’s anti-rad­i­cal­i­sa­tion strat­egy Prevent was alerted to 39 people last year, up from 23 in 2018.

It fol­lows a spate of right-wing extremism leading to Scots be­ing jailed.

Calls have now been made for the ­Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment to address the issue.

Fiyaz Mughal, founder and di­rec­tor of counter-ex­trem­ism or­gan­i­sa­tion Faith Mat­ters, said he warned Holyrood officials five years ago that anti-Mus­lim far-right ac­tiv­ity would af­fect them.

Founder and Director of Faith Matters Fiyaz Mughal has called for action (CAMERA PRESS/Ken Rake)

He claims they didn’t take his concerns seriously, and said that “Scot­land was ex­cep­tional to Eng­land be­cause of its in­clu­sive na­ture”.

Mughal said: “That may be the case but it does not stop vul­ner­a­ble ­in­di­vid­u­als ab­sorb­ing ide­olo­gies, whether that be far-right, Is­lamist or far-left in na­ture.’

A Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment spokesman said: “We are com­mit­ted to build­ing com­mu­ni­ties which re­ject di­vi­sive, hate­ful ide­ol­ogy in all its forms.”

Figures show the total number of Scots involved in all kinds of dangerous extremist activity – including Islamist or the far-left – has risen from 104 in 2018 to 126 in 2019.

Of those, 112 were men, 14 were women and 28 were un­der-15.

A series of Record stories has exposed the rise of right-wing hate groups across Scotland.

We revealed how Hitler-worshipping goons took to the streets of Glasgow in a bid to lure youngsters into their cult.

The bigots were pictured giving Nazi salutes outside the City Chambers.

And in July, we told how extremist mob ­Generation Identity – dubbed “hipster fascists” – selected whites only as they gave out meals to rough sleepers in Buchanan Street, Glasgow.