© youtube
Efforts to stem Islamic and far-right extremism in the UK have led to children under the age of 10 being referred to government de-radicalization programs on an almost daily basis, new figures show.
A total of 4,611 people, around half of them children and teens, have been flagged up for possible intervention in the past year to stop them falling under the influence of extremist ideologies.
The figures have jumped 75 percent since last year, when local authorities - including schools and councils - were given a statutory duty to stop people being drawn into terrorism, known as the Prevent strategy.
Islamic extremism is involved in 70 percent of those referred, while 15 percent of cases are related to far-right ideas, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show.
In the year to June there were 2,311 referrals to the government's de-radicalization Channel scheme for under-18s, up 83 percent,
including 352 cases of children aged nine or under, or an average of one per day.
The Channel program, which is voluntary, is part of the government's wider anti-terrorism strategy and was set up following the 7/7 attacks in 2005 to identify people vulnerable to extremism.
Comment: