The radicalization of extremists online poses a growing security risk to Czechia, the Interior Ministry finds in its report on the activity of extremist movements in the second half of 2022.
According to the document, this radicalization affects different age groups and social groups, as well as different ideological tendencies. When it comes to right-wing extremism, it is isolated online communities that currently pose a particularly significant threat.
“These groups are few in number and their members generally do not make public statements. Their risk lies in the fact that they can give rise to attacks perpetrated by solitary individuals ,” explained the Ministry of the Interior.
He added that members of these communities generally had good language skills and were in contact with extremists abroad.
In this context, the authorities cited the example of a 17-year-old Czech accused of having prepared bomb attacks against the embassies of the United States, Israel and China in Prague.
Disgruntled Czechs become ‘an important political force’
Another main lesson of this report on extremism: the Czechs dissatisfied with the functioning of the state, its pro-European and pro-Western orientation and the action of the government are more and more numerous and even represent ” a threat to the democratic foundations of the Czech Republic” .
According to the Ministry of the Interior, this group, which has established itself in recent months as “a real important political force” is strongly influenced by different conspiracy theories.
It is an easy target for extremist, xenophobic and nationalist politicians and groups, as well as Czech and foreign disinformants.
The ministry cited as an example the organizer of anti-government demonstrations Ladislav Vrabel and his collaborators who succeeded in bringing together some 70,000 people during a demonstration of “discontented citizens” last September in Prague.
Furthermore, the authors of the report on extremism note that “after the end of the Covid epidemic, the attention of many disinformants turned to the war in Ukraine and the propaganda of the Kremlin.
source: francais