Anti-Fascist
Belgian Neo-Nazis in 'terror plot'
On the 7 of September Belgian police arrested 17 alleged Neo-Nazis, mostly serving soldiers, who were said to be planning to destabilise the country's institutions in a series of terrorist attacks. In simultaneous raids on five army barracks and 18 private addresses across the northern Flanders half of Belgium, police uncovered a homemade bomb and numerous weapons.
The raids by 150 police officers in East Flanders, Antwerp and Limburg were the most dramatic breakthrough in a two-year investigation into activists of the far-right allegedly operating inside the armed forces.
The federal prosecutor's office, which is not limited by the sort of pre-trial restrictions in force in Britain, described the arrested people as mainly "soldiers and people with an extreme right ideology who clearly express themselves through racism, xenophobia, Holocaust denial, anti-semitism and Neo-Nazism".
The main suspect, who is a member of the Neo-Nazi Blood and Honour Flanders group, recruited in military bases throughout Flanders, the Flemish-speaking half of Belgium.
The arrests are likely to have a strong impact in Belgium, where mainstream politicians are bracing themselves for significant advances by the hard-right Vlaams Belang party in next month's local elections. The party insists it is non-violent, however, and distances itself from Neo-Nazis.
On September 8 2006, a second round of raids began. The Belgian police said they seized more than 100 weapons and detained two new suspects in an investigation into a Neo-Nazi network that they assert involves soldiers and might have been capable of mounting terror attacks.
The Interior Ministry said the country was considering tightening its laws on extremist groups following the raids Thursday.
The police said they had detained 17 suspects, mostly soldiers, during raids at barracks and homes near the town of Mechelen and around the northern port city of Antwerp, both in the Dutch- speaking Flanders region.
They also said they had seized illegal weapons during the raids, a homemade bomb, land mine detonators, large quantities of ammunition and Neo-Nazi propaganda.
Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx and Defense Minister Andre Flahaut hailed the "exemplary collaboration" among the police, military and judiciary that "allowed for the dismantlement of a Neo-Nazi group within the heart of the army who notably engaged in the trafficking of arms and in racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic propaganda."
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that those arrested were mainly "soldiers and people with an extreme-right ideology who clearly expressed themselves through racism, xenophobia, Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and Neo-Nazism."
It added that the suspects were planning "terrorist actions" aimed at "destabilizing" Belgium.
A federal police official said that investigators were also looking into whether those arrested had been involved in weapons trafficking and membership in groups that "incite racial hatred."
Six of those held had been placed under arrest, seven were released under certain conditions and four were still waiting to go before a magistrate.
The raids brought to public attention an undercover two-year investigation of a soldier who prosecutors said had brought together a group of far-right sympathizers to spread Neo-Nazi ideology.
E-mails were found in the raid indicating that there was an organized group operating in the military, police officials said.
Editorials in the country's newspapers denounced the threat of the extreme right. 'Le Soir' in Brussels assailed the "Neo-Nazi soldiers who seek to destabilize the country."
Support for the far-right, anti-immigrant 'Vlaams Belang' party has grown in the Dutch-speaking Flanders region, and throughout Belgium. Local elections will be held in October, and recently there has been a spate of apparently racist crimes.
In May, an 18-year-old skinhead shot and killed an African woman and a white child in her charge in the port city of Antwerp.
The arrests came a month before municipal elections across Belgium, and provoked accusations that the government was trying to manipulate the voting.