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U.S.-based Neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division to be Banned from United Kingdom

The American neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division will be labeled a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom.

According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the group has been linked to inspiring a number of terror acts in the UK. The group is linked to at least five murders in the U.S. The UK law would also cover National Socialist Order, another name under which the neo-Nazi group operates.

Patel said she would ask members of Parliament to outlaw the group in order “to protect young and vulnerable people from being radicalized,” according to BBC News.

The law would make it a crime to belong to the group or solicit support for it.

As precedent, the UK has previously outlawed similar neo-Nazi groups National Action, Sonnenkrieg Division and Feuerkrieg Division.

Prosecutors in the UK have linked all four groups to dozens of terror attacks or disrupted terror plots.

“Vile and racist white supremacist groups like this exist to spread hate, sow division and advocate the use of violence to further their sick ideologies,” Secretary Patel said.

“I will do all I can to protect young and vulnerable people from being radicalized which is why I am taking action to proscribe this dangerous group,” she added.

The UK currently lists more than 70 international groups and 14 Northern Irish groups as terror organizations.