Portugal anti-terror police arrest 20 neo-Nazis over hate crimes
LISBON - Police from Portugal's National Anti-Terrorism Unit arrested 20 ultra-nationalists on Tuesday in an operation that involved searches across the country as part of an investigation into attempted murder and other hate crimes.
The Lisbon District Prosecutor's office said in a statement those detained were part of the Hammerskin Nation, a neo-Nazi skinhead group based in the US city of Dallas. "In our country they seek, among other things, to expel and prevent the entry of all ethnic minorities to Portugal," it said.
The crimes being investigated took place between 2013 and 2015 and include at least one attempted murder, robbery, and religious and sexual discrimination, prosecutors said.
Police said some of those detained were suspected of involvement in an attack on a group of anti-fascist communist activists in September 2015 following an anti-immigration rally in downtown Lisbon staged by ultra-nationalist groups.
