The Department of Homeland Security has warned law enforcement departments across the United States that violent extremists are mobilizing against health restrictions imposed to combat the novel coronavirus.
This is the third warning known to have
been issued by the DHS in the past month about the potential of violence
by domestic violent extremists, as America continues to battle the
pandemic.
The latest warning was issued on
Thursday, April 23, in the form of a memorandum, which was communicated
to law enforcement personnel throughout the US. The memorandum was
marked ‘unclassified/law enforcement sensitive’ and was accessed by
Politico, which reported
on it on Thursday. It comes as a self-styled ‘Liberate’ movement is
forming in several American states, which aims to pressure government
officials to end lockdowns across the country.
The memorandum states that “recent
incidents and arrests nationwide illustrate how the COVID-19 pandemic is
driving violent actors —both non-ideologically and ideologically
motivated— to threaten violence”. It goes on to cite arrests of violent
extremists who have issued threats against elected and appointed
government officials. There have also been threats made against
government facilities, including police stations and federal buildings,
by people protesting the lockdowns.
A man, described in the DHS report as an
“anti-government extremist”, was arrested earlier this month after he
threatened to kill the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Grisham, over
her decision to impose ‘stay at home’ orders. Another man was arrested
in Florida after he threatened to take action against the COVID-19
lockdown by blowing up the headquarters of the Orlando Police
Department. Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered
a plot by a white supremacist and anti-government radical to blow up a
medical facility in the Kansas City, Missouri, area. On March 23, the
DHS issued another report stating that American white supremacists were exploring ways to weaponize the coronavirus as early as January.
The latest DHS memorandum warns that the
danger posed by domestic violent extremists will continue to escalate
“until the virus is contained and the normal routine of US societal life
resumes”.
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