Rexist leader Leon Degrelle languished in a prison cell tonight as police efficiently mopped up the frayed ends of what had been scheduled to be a “march upon Brussels” by 250,000 Fascists from throughout the country, according to the Havas News Agency.
Thousands of Fascists did succeed in slipping through the heavy guard thrown around the capital by anxious authorities, but they were smothered by police in a series of clashes which produced considerable excitement but little damage, Havas said.
Fists flew thick and fast when Socialists and Communists fell upon the Rexist bands, but only one serious casualty was reported when an unidentified Fascist allegedly brought a revolver into play. One of the bullets struck a Socialist laborer, Havas reported.
Belgian Jewry had awaited the march with nervousness stimulated by the recent anti-Semitic trend of the Rexists. Although Degrelle has publicly disavowed “racialism” as part of his program, his official newspapers daily publish sharp attacks against Jews.
It was learned that a Rexist delegation attended the Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg. Degrolle recently allied himself personally with the outspokenly anti-Semitic National Union and is new negotiating with an anti-Semitic German Nationalist group.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
