Activity on neo-Nazi site surges after Toyosi killing
Stormfront, a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi internet forum, has been operating online here for several years and has called for an “Irish BNP” to be set up.
Following the killing of Toyosi Shitta-bey, the forum sprung into life with members posting racist comments and calling for Irish people to come together to “protect” the country.
One thread on the site entitled “March on the Dáil in remembrance of Toyosi ****taby” was viewed almost 2,000 times since his death. Another thread entitled “ethnic crime” has been viewed more than 30,000 times.
One regular poster stated: “We need an Irish BNP, something that will wake up our people and give people something to follow. I really believe most people in Ireland have had enough but we have nobody or nothing to follow. There are enough people here on Stormfront and other websites who want to see a far-right political party but for some reason we just can’t get going.”
Philip Watt, former director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), disbanded in 2008 due to a lack of funding, said one of the committee’s functions was to actively pursue websites hosting racist content.
He said the NCCRI had been aware of Stormfront’s activities in this country and had closed down sites promoting racial hatred.
“There is a lot of stuff on cyberspace encouraging racism in Ireland, but... we just don’t know how much is put into practice or how serious they are.”
Stormfront Ireland is hosted in the US, where legislation around free speech is more liberal.
Sergeant Dave McInerney of the Garda Racial and Intercultural Unit also confirmed he was aware the group. He said there was no evidence it carried out any of its online threats.
Head of Residents against Racism, Rosanna Flynn, said she had received several threatening mail and text messages and had reported the incidents to the Gardaí.
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