The European Police, or Europol, has claimed that extremist and jihadist groups have tried to take advantage of the pandemic in order to spread propaganda messages and cultivate distrust of governments and institutions.
“Terrorists are exploiting the polarization of society to contaminate the social climate with violent ideologies,” the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement said in a statement.
The European Police Office, based in The Hague, released today (22/06) its annual report on terrorism in the European Union, stating that in 2020 there were 57 attacks or attempted attacks in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Last year, 21 people lost their lives in such terrorist attacks in the EU.
Restrictions imposed to deal with the spread of the pandemic also reduced the chances of committing deadly attacks. The number of people arrested for terrorism-related offenses has also dropped by a third, compared to previous years.
However, the situation created by the pandemic could be a factor of additional stress and turn vulnerable people towards violence. “For example, jihadist terrorist groups sought to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic for propaganda purposes,” Europol explained, according to the APE-MPE.
The attacks in 2020 were mainly made by “lone wolves”
Islamic State has called the pandemic “God’s punishment for its enemies” and called on its supporters to carry out attacks taking advantage of the weakness of the anti-jihadist coalition countries.
Also, “a failed far-right attack in Belgium was motivated by opposition to measures against Covid-19” implemented by the country. In the Czech Republic, a man was arrested “for threatening to commit a terrorist attack if restaurants and cafes were not reopened”.
In 2020, all jihadist attacks on European soil were carried out by “lone wolves”, some of whom were “probably radicalized on the internet,” said Claudio Galcerano, director of Europol’s counterterrorism unit.
“The risk of radicalization on the Internet has increased. “This is especially true of far-right terrorism,” added Elva Johansson, the commissioner for Home Affairs.
