Members of the Preventing Violent Extremism team have denied they tried to stop a Workshop on Counter-terrorism and Security organised by CAGE from taking place in Blackburn.

The Cage organisation was hosting the workshops across the UK and was due to meet at Bangor Street Community Centre on April 3.

However, it was claimed officials turned up at the venue to ensure the event did not go ahead, and were keen to stop the event taking place.

At first it was claimed that members from the Prevent team put pressure on the organisers and forced them to switch venues.

But now Blackburn with Darwen Council say they asked organisers to move venues because the event was at a ‘bigger in scale than the original booking enquiry indicated.’ A Prevent spokesperson for Blackburn told us, “We can state that no Prevent officers were dispatched to the venue.

“No officers from the team forced the organisers to cancel the event.”

Prevent is one of the four elements of Contest, the government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

CAGE is an independent advocacy organisation working to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror. The organisation highlights and campaigns against state policies.

Recently, the organisation has come in for criticism by the government and sections of the media for highlighting the circumstances surrounding the radicalisation of Jihadi John.

The workshops aimed to educate Muslims on the implications the new Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 legislation.

Cage meanwhile were now unclear as to why the event had to be moved. A spokesperson for the organisation said they were looking into the background to actually what happened. But were unable to clarify for what reasons they felt the need to move the event.

However, a local activist unrelated to the organisation says he did receive phone calls asking about the event.

Bangor Street Community Centre is a Council building. A Blackburn with Darwen Council statement read, “There are conditions attached to booking the council’s public building which includes a provision for the organiser to give us sufficient details before the event otherwise the booking cannot be confirmed.

“Unfortunately, the organisers gave us the details of the event too late and it was bigger in scale than the original booking enquiry indicated.

“We could not confirm the booking and advised them a private venue may be able to meet their requirements.”