Shock as police say far-right sticker with razor blade underneath found at Kent railway station

3 August 2024, 14:14

A National Front sticker was found with a razor blade underneath at a railway station close to a school in Kent, according to police and local authorities.

The sticker was discovered on Monday on a light fitting in the station at Dunton Green, a commuter village near Sevenoaks, south-east of London. The station is a few hundred metres from a primary school.

Local authorities warned that there had been “an increasing level of far right propaganda” in the village, but told locals not to panic.

Police urged anyone who found such a sticker not to remove it for safety reasons, but to report it to police immediately. No one was hurt by the blade.

There have been no arrests and it is unclear who has been putting up the stickers.

The National Front is a notorious racist and fascist political organisation whose popularity peaked in the 1970s, with other groups since taking its place as the leading British party of the far-right.

The appearance of the stickers comes amid a rise in far-right activity across the UK following the fatal stabbings of three young girls at a dance class in the Merseyside town of Southport on Monday.

Online misinformation has spread claiming that the attacks were committed by a Muslim asylum seeker. The suspect is a 17-year-old boy born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents.

Local police in Kent said it was "important not to incite panic" about the stickers and razor blade but that it was also "crucial to raise awareness about this issue."

PC Nick Hubbard said that everyone in the village should remain vigilant.

"If you come across any ‘hate-inspired stickers’ in public places, please do not attempt to remove them yourself,” he said. “Instead, immediately notify the police."

"The sticker in question was located near a school, highlighting the potential danger it posed.

"Fortunately, no injuries occurred upon its discovery."

Dunton Parish council said they did not want to "give extremists a platform" but that they "must alert residents to the fact that we are seeing an increasing level of far right propaganda around the village, largely at the moment in the form of stickers.

"Most recently (Mon 29/07), one of these stickers was found to have a razor blade beneath it (at the top of the tunnel to the station)."

They added that “this type of activity is not welcome in Dunton Green".

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"Any information that anyone might have with regard to this should, please, be passed on to Kent Police, before someone is hurt," the council said.

This is not the first time that razor blades have been stuck to the underside of far-right stickers in Dunton Green in recent years.

In 2021, police found a blade on a Nazi sticker at a bus stop in the village.

Inspector Matt Atkinson of Kent Police said at the time that the incident was "disturbing”, adding that it was "sheer luck that a child was not harmed".

Reports of far-right activists putting razor blades behind stickers date back to the 1970s.