Belgian neo-Nazis in 'terror plot'*

Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Friday September 8, 2006
The Guardian

Belgian police yesterday 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
far-right activists 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.