Muslim radical Abou Jahjah, an ex-Hezbollah fighter and head of the extremist Arab European League in Belgium, has been charged with inciting two days of Arab rioting in Antwerp.

The Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, vowed to put a stop to the open lawlessness of Abou Jahjah’s militant organisation, the Arab European League. “The league is trying to terrorise the city,” he said.

The authorities were shocked by the targeted nature of vandalism this week. Flemish pubs and black-owned businesses in the Borgerhout district were attacked, but shops displaying AEL stickers were spared.

Belgium’s liberal media agreed yesterday that the country’s experiment with tolerant multiculturalism had totally broken down.

The Flemish newspaper De Morgen said: “For a decade, the immigrant quarters of this country have turned into reservoirs of frustration, even hate. They have found a voice in Abou Jahjah.”

Abou Jahjah rejects assimilation, demanding segregated schools and self-governing, Arab-speaking ghettos.