Anti-lockdown conspiracies and social media pages are driving extremist right-wing recruitment

Demonstration participants in Berlin, March 2021, consisting of right-wing Nazis, bourgeois corona deniers and conspiracy theorists, demonstrate against the currently applicable lockdown rules in Germany. Anti-fascist counter-demonstrators accompany…

Demonstration participants in Berlin, March 2021, consisting of right-wing Nazis, bourgeois corona deniers and conspiracy theorists, demonstrate against the currently applicable lockdown rules in Germany. Anti-fascist counter-demonstrators accompany the demonstration, but are held back by strong police forces. Credit: Juergen Nowak/Alamy

3 June 2021

The right-wing extremist and terrorist threat is growing as various groups across Europe are using the Covid-19 pandemic and related conspiracy theories to great effect: the recruitment and radicalisation not only of regular citizens, but also current and former military personnel. The continued attempts to bring people with tactical skillsets to the protest movement highlight the need to monitor the threat closely.

By Kristian Bischoff, Europe analyst

Several cases in recent months have highlighted how the anti-lockdown/right wing/conspiracy theory sub-culture aims to acquire support in military ranks or from people with tactical experience. 

 The most serious case currently is from Belgium, where an army veteran of 20+ years is the object of a manhunt, as he his suspected of having stolen multiple weapons and explosives from a barracks. The individual is confirmed to have far-right views and was supposedly gathering weapons to attack leading members of the Belgian governments’ counter-Covid-19 effort.

In Denmark, social media posts from members of the so-called Men In Black (an anti-lockdown protest movement), have been directly asking for people with military experience to join their protests to counter the police. People dressed in military and camouflage fatigues, at least one confirmed as a reservist, later participated in the protests in Copenhagen, making speeches and posing for photos. This is now being investigated by the Danish military intelligence agency. 

That we are now seeing anti-lockdown groups having support from confirmed far-right individuals, and attempting to recruit military members, should come as little surprise. While originating from anarchist doctrine, and having members from across the political spectrum, the anti-lockdown groups often have an overrepresentation of followers from the radical right-wing. Commonly during protests the groups display flags or banners of national symbolism, believe general right-wing conspiracy theories, and are revolutionary and anti-government in nature.

They also commonly grasp onto an issue of the “rights of the people” being taken away, drumming up support for a perceived struggle against the elites. Extremist groups across Europe have also attempted to insert themselves into anti-lockdown protests, showing up to as many manifestations as possible.

Many right-wing populist parties have been quick to capitalise on this by being most vocal in denouncing lockdown measures and promoting anti-mask and anti-vaccination sentiment. This means that more people than before are being exposed to radical ideas and that the potential for recruitment to the far right is growing. On 26 May, a woman rammed her car through a covid-19 vaccination site in Tennessee, US, highlighting how otherwise regular people are now being radicalised to the point where they are willing to conduct attacks based on the rhetoric and ideology of the anti-lockdown groups.

Trying to recruit soldiers is something extremist right-wing groups have been trying to do for some time. Right-wing groups in Europe are known to host training camps for members, where they do weapon drills and train military tactics. With this, these groups try to enhance their capabilities of both defensive and most worryingly, offensive action. While the objects of offensive action and attacks earlier were mainly migrants of non-western origin or Jews, the Covid-19 situation means that now leading scientists and politicians, as in Belgium, are being targeted.

With the Covid-19 pandemic coming to a relative close with vaccines being rolled out and restrictions lifted, many anti-lockdown groups are starting to prepare for the time after by writing manifests and thinking in political strategies. Many formal groups will likely collapse as their perceived struggle has ended, but their members might still connect or form new informal ones based along other lines, likely still anti-government or conspiracy related. These should be followed closely by security services and professionals alike.

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