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HEALTH-VIRUS-BELGIUM-POLICE
Armed Belgian soldier on run after threatening Covid expert
BRUSSELS, May 19, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Belgian police were hunting Wednesday for a soldier with suspected far-right views who has gone on the run after threatening public figures, including a renowned virologist.
Special police units deployed overnight near the missing serviceman’s home town of Dilsen-Stokkem in the northeast of the country, near the Dutch border.
Belgian media reports said the man, in his 40s, had taken with him a rocket launcher, a submachine gun, a pistol and body armour, but police said some weapons were recovered when his car was found.
Among the people he has threatened is Marc Van Ranst, a leading academic who has become a public figure in Belgium during the coronavirus crisis.
He is an active social media user and his views have made him a target of Covid-sceptics and anti-mask activists associated with the Flemish far-right.
Already living under police protection, he and his family have been moved to a place of safety.
A spokesman for federal prosecutors, Eric Van Duyse, told AFP that the solider was “well trained but seems to have ideas associated with the extreme right”.
The soldier had disappeared with weapons, he said, and had left behind a letter containing “worrying elements” including threats to the state and public figures.
Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne told VRT television that the soldier’s name was on a monitoring list maintained by the Ocam anti-terrorist agency because of his extremist views.
“There are signs that he is violent and, over the course of the past 24 hours, evidence has emerged that shows this man presents an acute threat,” he said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1430 hrs