Manchester attack: Government ‘barking up wrong tree’ with Prevent

Read the original article by Simon Hooper on the Middle East Eye or read some of the key points below;

1. “Critics of the British government’s Prevent programme have accused it of “barking up the wrong tree” after the home secretary on Wednesday reiterated a commitment to bolstering the counter-extremism strategy following the suicide bombing in Manchester.”
2. “But Amber Rudd, speaking on BBC radio on Wednesday, said that she did not accept criticism of Prevent, describing it as providing a “system of support” for communties. She said the ruling Conservative Party planned to go ahead with an “uplift” for Prevent, including more funding, if the party is re-elected in general elections on 8 June. “There is an industry out there that doesn’t like Prevent but I can tell you that 150 people were stopped because of Prevent activity from travelling to Syria last year, 50 of whom were children,” she said.
3. “The strategy has been opposed by the National Union of Teachers, the National Union of Students and many university staff amid concerns that requirements for educational institutions to enforce the Prevent Duty undermines free speech.”
4. “Rizwaan Sabir, an researcher on counterterrorism policy at Liverpool John Moores University, told Middle East Eye that Prevent was “barking up the wrong tree” by attempting to tackle ideology and ideas rather than the specific security threats and risked creating conditions in which political violence was more likely.”
5. “Despite human rights concerns surrounding Prevent, the UK is exporting counter-extremism experience, with the head of Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, recently describing the strategy as a “best practice model” for countering radicalisation. “