Three neo-Nazis have been arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard and charged with seven hate crimes for antisemitic attacks against the Jewish community in Madrid and Burgos.
The charges pertain to multiple antisemitic acts in the town of Buros (formerly known as “Castrillo Mota de Judíos”), including attempting to set fire to an Israeli flag, setting fire to garbage cans and pro-fascist graffiti, El Pais reported.
The Civil Guard also said that the suspects vandalized Jewish sections of the La Almudena and Hoyo de Manzanares cemeteries in Madrid.
The investigation began in December 2021 after threatening antisemitic messages were found in Burgos, with one targeting the mayor, Lorenzo Rodríguez.
“Mayor sold to the murderous Jew,” the message said.
“These events caused a disturbance of public peace in the small town of Castrillo Mota de Judíos, where a feeling of insecurity and fear was generated in the neighbours due to the climate of violence,” the Civil Guard said in a statement.
The Madrid authorities had also been monitoring a group of neo-Nazis since October 2020 when a series of antisemitic incidents occurred, including antisemitic and xenophobic graffiti sprayed on the Villanueva de la Cañada synagogue and the Hoyo de Manzanares and La Almudena cemeteries.
Agents determined that the acts were the work of the same vandals, leading to the arrest of the three suspects, members of the neo-Nazi group.
According to the Civil Guard, a search found they were connected to “xenophobic movements with a marked antisemitic discourse, whose messages focus on hatred against the Jewish population and their environment.”
The suspects were allegedly part of a “radical right-wing extremist criminal group” that was set up to prevent alerting law enforcement by using “security measures to avoid detection.”
Searches of the suspects’ homes found caches of fascist material, including Nazi propaganda and paraphernalia, tasers and compressed air guns.