The Northern Echo reports that a man who made threats on Facebook to bomb Asian restaurants ‘Oslo-style’ has been charged with ‘sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages or matters’  and will appear in court later this month.

From the local paper:

“A man has been charged after allegedly making online threats to carry out an "Oslo-style" bomb attack on Muslims.

“Kenneth Graham Holden, 30, will appear before magistrates later this month charged with two counts of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages or matters.

“Police launched a probe after race-hate posts were allegedly made on Facebook in April this year.

“Detectives discovered comments threatening a pipe bomb attack on Ocean Road, in South Shields , South Tyneside , inspired by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

“Chief Insp Michael Barton, of South Tyneside Area Command, said they would not tolerate "racial incitement" on the internet.”

In a similar incident which took place last month, a man was arrested after he posted  Facebook comments in support of Anders Breivik’s attacks in Norway last year, saying ‘I take my hat off to you sir’. A local BNP leader was also found guilty recently of racially aggravated harassment relating to articles he posted online.

The role of the internet in the process of radicalisation featured heavily in the select committee report on The Roots of Violent Radicalisation, which was published last year. These cases are just a few of a number which illustrate the racist and Islamophobic activity taking place on the internet, and the need to be wary of the opportunities that those who support racist, far right views are taking to spread bigotry.