The British government has ramped up efforts to prevent more British youngsters from being lured into terrorism as a result of jihadi propaganda by rushing fresh resources into new areas from where Muslim men have travelled overseas to join Daesh, The Guardian reported Saturday.
Brighton, Coventry and Portsmouth have been added to the list of areas needing support under the government’s £40m grassroots counter-extremism strategy Prevent, after clusters of young men from the cities traveled to fight in Syria.
A list showing the number of places officially designated as needing support under the programme has risen as concern grows about British jihadis, the report said.
The Prevent strategy, which the Home Office says aims to “stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism”, ranges from funding community campaigns to mentor young people at risk of being drawn into violent extremism to involving schools and universities in vigilance.
It has been controversial since it was set up under Labour, when it was accused of stigmatizing Muslims – including a case in which it funded CCTV cameras in a Muslim area of Birmingham, the report said.