it's just not my signature I really rush to stop on organized chaos [Applause] it was addictive them on my three weeks after the arena bombing that killed 22 people and the far-right descended on Manchester in what they called a march against here among them a 15 year old schoolboy on his first demo which he filmed on his phone you get people that are their kids the are patriotic but they're few and far between get the people that are just plain racist and neo-nazis because of his young age we've agreed not to identify him so we're
calling him Mark at a time when Britain is seeing a new wave of far-right extremism he reveals how he was grooved online how he rose up the ranks and how he eventually managed to break free I grew up in a very small town and very small population majority why there's nothing much to do for young people a young boy with nothing much to do all around him gleaming new developments but they had left his community feeling forgotten I was just angry at the world I wasn't doing well in school and I pretty much knew that
I wasn't gonna pass my past my exams and obviously growing up school always taught told you no you don't you don't pass the GCSEs you're not gonna be anything in life sort of things so youngest I'm from there really so you felt like you weren't gonna come to anything you are going to amount to anything yeah a sense of helplessness that left him vulnerable to the attention of local extremists a school friend told him about a group that was offering free transport to rallies they would often clash with the police and with counter demonstrations amongst
the crowds though he says he found a sense of belonging of brotherhood he even got to meet one of his online heroes so for a young land to be in that adrenaline rush it was it is I was actually on the front line for most of it I held the banner at one point I met Tommy Robinson that day I was watching a lot of his videos and I really looked up to him at the time yeah I felt it was like just star stuff I guess you could say intoxicated by the attention mark began
spending hours on line joining around 60 far-right groups on Facebook he describes how groups like Britain first drew him in Britain first is a declaration of war against all of the politicians and the traitors destroying and betraying our inheritance professed commonly make post such as opposed say if you don't think British soldiers should live on the streets to share this post I think you know ninety nine percent the population agrees up they do kind of draw you in the kind of trick feed here this propaganda and they'll slowly slowly build up this like this kind
of hatred towards Islam that hatred towards Islam was expressed in the new chance that he learned which viewers may find offensive mark became a regular at far-right events and says he came to the attention of poor Golding and Jada Frandsen at the time they were the leaders of Britain first and had gained headlines when Donald Trump retweeted her posts mark describes the pride he felt when he received a personal phone call from the couple so the leaders of Britain first were ringing you a young boy on your phone yeah it's unreal like hot however gone
from you know a cocky teenager I guess he could describe it as and so from idiots a now speaking to the main leaders in such a small amount of time they wants me be to be the poster boy they want me to get my friends involved Britain first deny marks claim telling us they don't accept membership from anyone under the age of 18 Goulding and Frandsen were later convicted and jailed for an unrelated incident of religiously aggravated hate crime I think the fart has been underestimated by quite a lot of people yet Nigel Bromwich works
for the government's prevent program as an intervention provider or mentor to young people like Mark who have been radicalized the far-right chines absolutely drastically from what it used to be no longer is the image sort of violence and sort of portraying actually no these are just kids or football against you know from my own point of view we mentor people now as young as 14 he showed me the tactics used by extremists online including video games where points are given for killing immigrants to invitations to private forums where the recent Christchurch attacks in New Zealand
are praised mr. Bromwich is well aware of the tactics used by the far-right as for 20 years he was an active member of groups like combat 18 and the National Front the forerunners of the BMP there are some people who say that D radicalization doesn't work that you can't change someone's mind set what do you think I think I'm living proof that you can you know the people we engage these people go from PAH police right supporters they were just angry about Isis or grooming suits a hardcore neo Nazis who have been entrenched in their
beliefs for decades you know or believe you can actually do radicalize anybody and it was with the help of a mentor that in the end helped mark leave the far right after being reported to prevent by a teacher he says that for the first time he was given respect and spoken to like an equal and I could relate to him which a lot of other people at the time I caught him and the way he spoke to me you know it was respectful to me which and I don't think a lot of people were again
it didn't judge me he understood why you know a person from the counsellors say in the majority white area could get involved and rather than you know telling me to leave he planted the seed and why I should leave in my head number of far-right referrals to prevent has risen dramatically although the program has been controversial mark says that for him without it he believes his anger would have led him down a dangerous path
