The EDL terrorist attacks were mobilised over Telegram by a Neo-Nazi in Finland
What does this say about outsider interference in domestic extremism? What does this also suggest about an easily influenced non-critical thinking demographic in the UK who find a sense of community in racial violence?
A shocking BBC report has exposed the initiator and community admin for the Telegram group that gathered over fourteen thousand members – a Neo-Nazi residing in Finland. Terrorist riots that started in Southport this summer were mobilised through groups sharing extremist content, led to dozens of riots across the country, destroying homes, businesses and setting fire to refugee centres.
BBC editor Ed Thomas travelled to Finland to confront the admin of Southport Wake Up – the group that gathered fourteen thousand members, 20-year-old Charles Emmanuel Mikko Orazana, living on the outskirts of Helsinki. Charles became a leader of the group and was a crucial member planning the riots. The group, filled with hate and taken down by telegram, discussed other locations across the country such as the dozens of refugee centres.
Charles (known as Mr AG) posted and promoted a manual in the group titled ‘Arson: Tactics and safety measures when carrying out arson’. The manual, originally created by Russian fascists, details how to target Muslims and how to avoid the police.
Mr AG, now known as a non-white man, pinned the Arson manual at the top of the group – his personal telegram account celebrates Hitler and promotes other Neo-Nazi groups. He also posted dozens of voice notes promoting extremist ideologies.
Reports suggest he is a “lone keyboard warrior” but when connecting this to the recent Chainalysis report, there are suggestions that global extremists groups are funded through the same crypto wallet. The Chainalysis report exposes a connection between how terrorist groups are funded by tracking their public and visible crypto transactions, funds have been seen moving to different global extremist groups from the same person or wallet. Whether or not Charles was funded or had outside interference, we don’t know yet. But what is clear is that there is a bigger, international structure at play promoting extremist thought. What’s threatening here is how easily the violent Brits can be mobilised to incite terror.