White Nationalists on Telegram Are Hailing the Germany Synagogue Shooter as a 'Saint'

By Tess Owen
Oct 9 2019, 1:39pm

Far-right extremists on the encrypted messaging app Telegram hailed the gunman who killed two people near a synagogue in Halle, Germany, Thursday as a “saint,” a title reserved for white nationalists who’ve carried out previous attacks.

Telegram users pored over the pictures and video footage starting to trickle in for confirmation that the shooter was, indeed, a white male. “I’m betting on a saint here,” one English-language channel wrote to its 1,300 subscribers. Users celebrated the shooting as a sign of the coming “boogaloo” — a word borrowed from anti-government extremists to refer to an impending civil war.

The gleeful reaction of white nationalists on Telegram provides yet another example of the international nature of the modern far right, who increasingly rely on Telegram and other unregulated online social marketplaces to build alliances around the world and inspire lone-wolf attacks.

More at: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5ybz4/white-nationalists-on-telegram-are-hailing-the-germany-synagogue-shooter-as-a-saint?utm_source=reddit.com