An new official website www.preventtragedies.co.uk offers advice if family members are being tempted to travel to Syria and join terrorist groups.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to Syria. The FCO says that you are at risk if you travel to Syria. The whole of Syria is unsafe, and many ordinary Syrians say that foreigners are not welcome, the authorities add.
Counter Terrorism Senior National Coordinator (SNC) Helen Ball hosted a UK-wide webchat on Sunday, March 8 as part of International Women’s Day. She said afterwards: “I have truly valued the questions put forward. It is so important that people everywhere have these conversations to help reach those living and working with young people who might be vulnerable. The Prevent Tragedies website, www.preventtragedies.co.uk, which we launched on Sunday, has created a platform for advice, sharing links to information centres across the UK. I have already been approached by people saying how useful the web site will be for them and we received support from people around the world during the course of the webchat. ”
To find out more read through the webchat at www.met.police.uk/Syria/ or www.preventtragedies.co.uk.
Meanwhile in Manchester ‘We Stand Together’ encourages people to come together as one and celebrate their differences to build a safer and stronger UK. Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: “Greater Manchester has a long and proud tradition of celebrating differences and sets a positive example to the rest of the world, which we should be immensely proud of. Recent attacks in Paris and Denmark have inevitably caused tension and fear within our communities and it is more important than ever that we come together as one and send a strong unified message that any attempt to create disharmony or fear is futile.
“We all have a responsibility to encourage community cohesion and I am calling on people to stand together against hatred and intolerance and show their support for each other during this difficult time.”
To report an incident of hate crime, contact police on 101, or 999 in an emergency. Or, report online to True Vision (www.report-it.org.uk) or use the True Vision app.
