October 26, 2005
Authorities in Spain have arrested nine people, described as skinheads, early Sunday morning as they were about to vandalize a mosque with Molotov cocktails in the Catalonian province of Tarragona. The accused were being followed by police after being seen a few hours beforehand spray-painting fascist and xenophobic graffiti on a mosque in the town of Reus. Police said the suspects were aged between 15 and 22 years. At around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, two cars pulled up to the mosque when police officers surrounded the group. Inside the cars, authorities found nine Molotov cocktails, a police stick, a knife, ski masks, latex gloves and several neo-Nazi and fascist emblems. The arrests follow last week's detentions in Barcelona of six people linked to a Nazi-inspired political party on charges of defending genocide. The accused were members of the National European State Party (ENE), and worked for a racist and anti-Semitic magazine called 'Intemperie'. The publication lauds the policies of Adolf Hitler and is known for its stances against immigrants, blacks, Jews and homosexuals.
