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Australia Under Pressure To Follow Canada And Declare Proud Boys A Terror Group

Australia Under Pressure To Follow Canada And Declare Proud Boys A Terror Group

"This is a multiple threat that knows no borders and knows no oceans."

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

Australia is under mounting pressure from Canadian anti-hate groups to crack down on extremist right-wing groups by labelling them as terrorist entities.

Canada recently became the first country to add the Proud Boys on its terror list.

It came less than a month after some of its members were allegedly part of the mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6.

Bernie Farber, the chair of the Canadian Anti Hate Network, has urged the Australian government to whack the Proud Boys on the terror watch list, saying they should 'absolutely' follow their example.

"I really hope and I really pray that ... Australian politicians and American politicians and others follow Canada's lead in this matter," he told SBS News.

"This is a multiple threat that knows no borders and knows no oceans.

PA

"We know that the Christchurch killer had been in touch with certain extreme elements within Canadian terrorist groups. They all have contact, and social media makes it so easy to do that, whether it's Telegram or Parler or whatever."

Farber added that it was important that democratic countries came together in fighting against the growing right-wing extremist threats across the world.

"We need to be on top of it together - there's power and strength in that," he said.

"All I can do is urge Australia to take the action that Canada took. It's important for the safety of all of our citizens."

Farber then pointed to Quebec's 2017 mosque shooting - which killed six - as well as the Christchurch shooting, in which the culprit was Australian, as evidence of the growing threat of such ideologies.

"Australia faced one of the worst, if not the worst racist murderers in decades. And I think politicians would be absolutely correct to say, an Australian did this, and did it in our part of the world, and (consider) who else is out there looking to plan the same type of thing," Farber said.

"When you do this kind of thing (proscription) - when you put out messages that governments will no longer stand for it, and that we are going to take action, these are messages that people will listen to."

PA

It seems that adding the Proud Boys to Canada's terror list has already proved to have an effect on the congregation of the group. Farber said three chapters have already been successfully closed in Canada.

"Australia should do the same thing," he declared.

Public Safety Canada said the Proud Boys group 'meets the legal threshold' for the criminal designation.

It explained that this threshold required 'reasonable grounds to believe that an entity has knowingly participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity', or has acted on behalf of or in association with such an entity.

Declaring the Proud Boys a terrorist group will now force banks or other financial institutions in the country to freeze any assets connected with the group.

It's also now illegal for any Canadian to knowingly do business with the Proud Boys.

Citizens are prevented from even giving support to the group, including assisting with travel, training or recruitment.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia, Canada, Politics