Toronto Van Attack. Image credit Twitter page of Kelly Wark1
Toronto/CMEDIA: Five years ago in one of Canada’s worst mass murders, the country was confronted with a previously obscure extremist movement when a man, inspired by “incels,” or involuntary celibates deliberately drove a van down a busy Toronto sidewalk, which experts say remains a growing threat.
While the attacker, Alek Minassian cited various motivations for the violence and it was found out by the presiding judge at his trial that his attack was motivated to achieve notoriety
Law enforcement agencies now see incels and groups with misogynist ideology as a rising concern, Arie Perliger, the director of security studies at the University of Massachusetts – Lowell was reported saying.
Perliger, who co-wrote a study on extremist misogyny for the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism this year, said the threat includes various groups that use anti-women ideology to radicalize men and extends beyond incels.
More research, training and intelligence collection to confronting misogyny in recent years has been devoted by Perliger of UMass-Lowell as well as U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, but more work is needed emphasing underlying causes in pushing young men towards incel and aligned groups.
He said that according to the statistics men are more likely to suffer from mental health issues, to be incarcerated and to be victims of violent crimes and added these challenges need to be addressed.
#Torontovanattack; #IncelThreatGrowing
