Vlaams Belang exposed as a collaborator of neonazi Golden Dawn

vlaams_belang_mixaloliakosVlaams Belang representatives with the Führer of Golden Dawn, Nikos Michaloliakos.

On Tuesday 16/11/2016, we published in our Facebook account photographs of Anke Van Dermeersch and Filip Dewinter, two leading members of Vlaams Belang, a Flemish far-right party, participating in a Golden Dawn meeting on the island of Lesvos. The Greek Nazi organisation publicised more photos from the meetings of Vlaams Belang and Golden Dawn in Lesvos and Chios aimed against refugees reaching the island.

Thanks to the efforts of Belgian antifascists, our revelation was reported in Belgian media (see here and here), obliging the leader of Vlaams Belang, Tom Van Grieken, to disassociate himself from the meeting with Golden Dawn. But we now have solid reasons to believe that Grieken’s reaction is hypocritical. The trip by Vlaams Belang was much more than some “common action” against immigration into the islands.

The cadres of Vlaams Belang, Filip Dewinter, Jan Penris, Frank Creyelman and Anke Van Dermeersch travelled to Greece in order to establish a full-scale co-operation with the Nazi organisation. Publicly they only publicised their trip to Lesvos and Chios (one can check their Facebook accounts).

But what they have not been very keen to share is the fact that they travelled to Athens, visited the Greek parliament, spoke at the parliamentary whip of Golden Dawn, gave a speech at its Headquarters and fraternised with the leadership of the organisation.

In the video below, Filip Dewinter gives an outright racist speech in front of the leadership of Golden Dawn, making open references to the Vlaamse Militanten Orde (VMO), a violent Flemish Nazi organisation active in the 1970s and hailing from the period after the Second World War. It was brought to trial for attacks on immigrants and leftists. (This reference – see 3:30 – is omitted in the written text here. The speech was not delivered in the Greek Parliament, but in the Headquarters of Golden Dawn).

In the face of such an extended and formal visit, it is impossible to believe that Tom Van Grieken had no idea of what his party’s MPs and Senators were up to. His disassociation from Golden Dawn is thus hypocritical and should not be believed. On the contrary, the kind of ties forged between Vlaams Belang and Golden Dawn, currently on trial as a “criminal organisation” in Greece, should be investigated by the Belgian authorities and be of concern to civil society organisations.

On the trial of Golden Dawn, you can read the following:

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