People in Britain may start to call for terrorist suspects to be put into internment camps if something is not done to prevent further attacks after three major incidents in three months, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says.
In a debate on the right-wing Murdoch-owned Fox News, Farage discussed the idea of suspects being rounded up and detained without trial. Internment has rarely been used in the UK.
It was last used during the Troubles, in which hundreds of Irish people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the 1970s were rounded up.
“If there is not action, then the calls for internment will grow,” Farage said.
“We have over 3,000 people on a sort of known terrorist list, and we’re watching and monitoring their activities, but a further 20,000 people who are persons of interest, mainly they’re linked in some way to extremist organizations.
“Unless we see the government getting tough, you will see public calls for those 3,000 to be arrested,” he said.
“I’m not sure that is the right approach because the big danger with that is we might alienate decent fair-minded Muslims in Britain,” Farage went on to say.
Fox presenter Clayton Morris was quick to condemn the call for detention without trial.
“Earlier on the show, we had a couple of guests mention the word internment, the idea of internment camps, as a possible solution to this,” he said.
“I think I made it well-known my feeling on that, which I find reprehensible, but on behalf of the network, I think all of us here find that idea reprehensible here at Fox News Channel. Just to be clear.”
His co-host Pete Hegseth was also against the idea.