Far-right activists use fitness clubs to recruit members

Far-right activists are working to entice youngsters into fascism by setting up a secretive network of martial arts and fitness clubs across the UK, a new report has found.

Groups have started to surface over the last year, born out of the International Active Club movement, a network of fascist martial arts clubs that are used to spread far-right ideology.

One of those that has emerged in the past year, gaining increased membership and influence in far-right circles, is Active Club Scotland (ACS), according to a report by the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate. Its investigation found that ACS’s members include those who have made bomb threats and marched with National Action, a terror group that is banned in the UK.

A record number