14 neo-nazis arrested
01 March 2004
Fourteen alleged members of the Spanish branch of the neo-nazi Hammerskin-España organisation were arrested in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona in an operation conducted by the Madrid Guardia Civil (the Spanish paramilitary police force), in relation to a series of racist attacks. Several of the detainees have a criminal record or have been previously detained for offences including threats, causing bodily injuries and public disturbances. Searches in 18 houses have resulted in the confiscation of a 6.35mm calibre gun, seven replica air-guns, ammunition, knives, baseball bats, truncheons, axes, machetes, and nazi pamphlets and paraphernalia. The investigation, code-named Operación Puñal, was launched following reports of a number of attacks in the areas of Villaviciosa de Odón and Arganda del Rey in Madrid. The Complutense university in Madrid has also been the setting for a series of attacks on students and acts of vandalism, including the spraying of death threats against the current dean of the university, in the last few months.
El País, 4.3.04.