Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin, Manchester, London, Barcelona; just some of the many European cities that have experienced acts of terrorism since 2015.
The rise of Da’esh, formely known as ISIS, has resulted in the perpetration of terrorist acts conducted in a manner never seen before and that we had previously never thought possible.
Da’esh and the caliphate it pledges allegiance to, increasingly utilise “low-tech” devices in order to carry out ghastly attacks on innocent citizens; terrorists acting in their name now use vehicles in attacks to deliberately mow down ordinary people going about their daily lives.
They intend to destroy our most precious values that form the basis of modern western life and in the age of social media, Da’esh can lure people to its shores to fight against the values they want to take away from us.
After the attacks in London and Manchester that happened earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, told Sky News: “what we are seeing generally are some quite low-tech attacks against targets which are easily accessed”.
In response, the UK amongst other countries have put up barriers on most bridges and certainly all of London’s bridges to stop future bridge attacks, while EU member states have set up task forces to combat the threat posed by the likes of Da’esh to protect their citizens from further attacks.
But no one is fully aware of how terrorists manage get into our countries.
Since joining the European Union in 1975, the UK has had freedom of movement between the other member states of the bloc, meaning that only people who pose an imminent risk will be detained; or so it seems to many.
The issue is worsened by the fact that many terrorists can disguise themselves as refugees in order to get in to Europe. In light of this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was strongly criticised in 2015 after allowing up to one million refugees into the country.
Some far-right leaders such as Nigel Farage of UKIP has asserted previously the EU is a breeding ground for terrorists. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain in 2016 after the Nice attack, “if you have sensible border controls, you will have good relations between all communities”, he then went on to say “1.8 million refugees were allowed into the EU in 2015 and IS said they would flood the continent with its jihadists”.
The abundance of terror attacks we have seen in recent years, mainly in Europe, mean governments have to do more to drive out the unlawful ideology that Da’esh represents. Counter-terrorism is now becoming a major factor of investment in economies across the globe.
As we all know, the most recent terror attack happened just two weeks ago in Barcelona and Cambrils in Spain, an attack in which sixteen people died.
Again, Da’esh claimed responsibility for this attack and again like so many other recent attacks, the main weapon was a van which was driven into people in the popular Las Ramblas area of Barcelona, followed by a similar attack in the town of Cambrils.
In the scheme of things, Da’esh will continue to fight the differences it sees between our core values and their ideologies; while doing so, wanting to take us back in time.
People are not afraid and we should stand with them to drive out this evil and hatred.
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