Far-Right Group Allied to Scottish Separatists
The Vlaamse Volksbeweging (VVB), or Flemish People’s Movement, was an official participant at Saturday’s major rally for Scottish independence in Edinburgh, organised by the SNP-dominated campaign for a Yes vote in next year’s referendum.
Steven Vergauwen, the VVB’s chairman, attended alongside Alex Salmond, the SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. Mr Vergauwen had said on Friday: “Scotland and Flanders are one, joined on their way towards independence and real democracy.”
The VVB seeks Flemish independence from Belgium.
But Prof Kris Deschouwer, the head of the politics department at Brussels Free University, said: “The VVB are ultranationalists and the SNP should watch who they mix with.