Eco extremists could turn into new British terror threat, Scotland Yard warns

• Experts warn of a growing threat of bomb attacks to headquarters of fossil firms

By Abul Taher, Security Correspondent For The Mail On Sunday[1]

Published: 01:34, 7 January 2024 | Updated: 01:47, 7 January 2024

Eco fanatics pose a risk of launching terror attacks on British soil, the country’s biggest police force has warned.

In a stark assessment, Scotland Yard said it fears environmental extremists – who have so far damaged property and held highly disruptive protests – will resort to terrorist violence if they feel their voices are not being heard.

Experts have warned that there is a growing risk of bomb attacks on the headquarters of fossil fuel firms and violence against their executives.

The Met’s warning appears in an annual review called the Force Management Statement. It says: ‘Terrorists and radicalisers will always look for opportunities to exploit in support of their ideology.

‘There is the potential for this radicalisation to extend to environmentalism given the ever-increasing sentiment within this lobby, and a sense of not being listened to by government.’

POWERFUL IDEOLOGY: An Extinction Rebellion protest outside Downing Street in October 2022. There is no suggestion that these people were involved in acts of terrorism

A member of environmental activist group Just Stop Oil reacts after spraying orange paint on the window shop of an Aston Martin car show room, in London, on October 16, 2022. There is no suggestion that these people were involved in acts of terrorism

It emerged last month that dozens of young environmental extremists have been referred to Prevent, the Government programme which tries to stop individuals from becoming terrorists.

One security source said: ‘These people believe the planet will end soon, and if they feel they are not being listened to, then they will resort to extreme measures. They are also the most panic-ridden, neurotic people.

So they could be radicalised to do crazy things.’

Another Prevent expert, who does not want to be named, said: ‘The protesters are already damaging property. The next stage for them would be to throw an improvised explosive device at a multinational company’s office, or intimidate and assault its employees.’

They added that many eco groups are organised ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’, so its members are free to launch their own actions. Last night, Jonathan Hall KC, the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said: ‘Terrorism has always been a broad church, and extreme environmentalism is more than capable of supplying a terrorist cause.’

Last month, a Freedom of Information request by the BBC revealed that since 2015, there have been at least 32 eco activists referred to Prevent.

So far, there has been one eco-terrorist conviction in Britain.

Nikolaos Karvounakis, 37, a Greek former serviceman, was jailed for eight years and four months in 2022 after leaving a bomb in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens in 2018. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that he was a member of a Mexican eco-terror group called the International Terrorist Mafia.

Yesterday, a Met counter-terror spokesman said: ‘We are alive to the potential for radicalisation to extend to environmentalism. We remain alert to any new or possible radicalisation risk or tactics.’

Some of the most disruptive eco protests carried out by groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have involved activists gluing themselves on to roads.

Last year, the MoS also uncovered a plot by Animal Rising to halt the Grand National by storming Aintree racecourse.

There were more than 100 arrests.

References

1. ^ Abul Taher, Security Correspondent For The Mail On Sunday (www.dailymail.co.uk)