Terror Threat in France

The article below, originally published on the Vlaams Belang website on December 22, was translated for Gates of Vienna by our Flemish correspondent VH:

Terror threat in France

Last week the French capital Paris was startled by a new terrorist threat. Last Tuesday the famous department store Printemps was evacuated after a bomb threat. Not without reason, as it turned out: in the toilets of the department store, five (albeit useless) sticks of dynamite were found.

The letter that warned of the attack was placed in the postbox of the AFP news agency earlier that day. “Tell your President that he must withdraw French troops from Afghanistan before the end of February 2009, otherwise we will take action against your big capitalist stores, without warning you in advance,” the message read. The letter was signed by the “Afghan Revolutionary Front,” an organization totally unknown to the intelligence services.

At first glance one would think that this is a group of Muslim extremists, but the French State Security does not exclude anything, and prefers to think of “left-wing extremist groups,” Deredactie.be wrote (17.12.08). “The language is not that of Islamists,” says Gerard Gachet, spokesman of the French interior minister, in Le Monde (17.12.08). According to him, the bomb threat contained blatant inconsistencies “Islamists think and act according to their religion. In every sentence of every letter they write, they refer to their faith. The only legitimacy of their actions is their faith. “References to “big capitalist shops” have not been seen before, according to Gachet.

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In recent weeks in Belgium, surprisingly many messages on Muslim extremists have also appeared. First there was the threat video, then the arrest of 14 persons who had links with Al Qaeda and were planning to commit an attack, and finally the articles in Knack on Muslim fundamentalism in Antwerp. A video appeared in which this Muslim extremism became apparent. The [undercover] video was recorded in an Antwerp mosque and shows a young man who threatens Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter with death. Watch the disturbing images here. Also in France, Last Monday seven Muslim extremists were arrested, who are suspected of cooperating with Malika el Aroud, one of those arrested in our country.

Violent left-wing groups also make themselves heard. Just look at the ongoing riots and destruction in Greece. This violence has also spread to other European countries such as Spain [and Norway, and Sweden], and also to our country: the “left-wing anarchists” are on a violent rampage. On Monday, following a demonstration by the “Anti-capitalist Front”, some fifty rioters wreaked havoc in a Ghent shopping area. They used concrete clubs to smash the windows of several shops, and also threw bricks and paint bombs. Nineteen people were arrested.

France is in any case arranging all the necessary precautions. The highest state of alert was declared, and during the Christmas holidays there will be more than 2,500 additional officers deployed in French cities.