Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action
{{Short description|Belgian anarchist terrorist organisation}}
{{Expand French|Front révolutionnaire d'action prolétarienne|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name = Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action
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| native_name = Front Révolutionnaire d’Action Prolétarienne {{in lang|fr}}
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| dates = {{fl}} 1985
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| predecessor = 15px Communist Combatant Cells
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| area = Belgium
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| position = Far-left
| crimes =
| attacks = Bombing of North Atlantic Assembly and AEG Telefunken buildings
| status = Inactive
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The Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action ({{langx|fr|Front Révolutionnaire d’Action Prolétarienne}}) was a Belgian far-left terrorist organisation.
The organisation was active in 1985, and was known for the bombing of the Secretariat of the North Atlantic Assembly and the AEG Telefunken building.{{cite book |last=Noemi|first=Gal-Or|date=18 June 2015|title=Tolerating Terrorism in the West: An International Survey|publisher=Routledge|page=100 |isbn=978-1317391500}}
History
The Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action was founded as a splinter of the Communist Combatant Cells at the initiative of Action Directe following disagreements with CCC leaders.{{cite news |last=Westlake |first=Martin|date=5 May 2019|title=A country in foment: Belgium in the 1980s |url=https://brussels-express.eu/a-country-in-foment-belgium-in-the-1980s/ |work=Brussels Express|access-date=18 June 2021}}{{cite news |last=Fralon |first=José-Alain|date=23 January 1986|title=EXPLOSIFS, COLT 45, ŒUVRES D'ENVER HODJA... Ce que recelait une des " planques " des Cellules communistes combattantes |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1986/01/23/explosifs-colt-45-uvres-d-enver-hodja-ce-que-recelait-une-des-planques-des-cellules-communistes-combattantes_3117795_1819218.html |work=Le Monde|location=Brussels|trans-title=EXPLOSIVES, COLT 45, WORKS BY ENVER HODJA ... What was concealed in one of the "hideouts" of the Communist Combatant Cells|language=fr|access-date=18 June 2021}} The CCC would hasten to disassociate themselves from the organisation.
On 20 April 1985, a bomb was detonated in the building housing the secretariat of the North Atlantic Assembly, setting fire to the building. The organisation's acronym "FRAP" was spray painted on the outside of the building. FRAP later claimed responsibility for the attack through an anonymous call to Belgian radio.{{cite news |last=Wielaard |first=Robert |date=21 April 1985 |title=Second Blast in Two Days Damages AEG-Telefunken Offices |url=https://apnews.com/article/042841c0b5091bd9937c93125228077a |work=AP News |location=Brussels |access-date=18 June 2021}}{{cite news|date=21 April 1985 |title=A terrorist bomb blast, the second in Belgium in... |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/04/21/A-terrorist-bomb-blast-the-second-in-Belgium-in/7969482907600/ |work=United Press International|location=Brussels |access-date=18 June 2021}} Twenty hours later on 21 April, another bomb was detonated at the AEG Telefunken building in Brussels. Nobody was injured in the attack, though the explosion blew out several windows in the structure and the neighbouring building. Though the organisation did not claim responsibility for the attack, the organisation's acronym was again found spray painted, on a wall in the building's garden. In both attacks, the bombs were detonated on windowsills. The bomb maker was suspected to be Luc Van Acker,{{cite book |last=Lodge|first=Juliet|date=11 July 2019|title=The Threat Of Terrorism: Combating Political Violence In Europe|publisher=Routledge|page=|isbn=978-1000306361}}{{cite journal|author= |date=1986|title=Benelux Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LczsAAAAMAAJ&q=FRAP+belgium|volume=3|issue=1–23|publisher=Haslach & Haslach |page=6|issn=0747-7708}} a Mouscron-born conscientious objector who had earlier travelled to Sudan on a humanitarian mission during the Second Sudanese Civil War.{{cite news |last=Guillaume|first=Alain|date=24 September 1988|url=https://www.lesoir.be/art/d-19880924-W3RM7E|language=fr|title=La Belgique juge ses terroristes|trans-title=Belgium judges its terrorists|work=Le Soir|access-date=18 June 2021|url-access=subscription}}
A CCC attack on the Federation of Belgian Enterprises which led to the death of two firemen on 1 May would lead to Acker allegedly losing his nerve, and in turn distancing himself from FRAP.
The FRAP would claim responsibility for the bombing of the Bayer AG headquarters on 22 June, though the attack was in reality conducted by an eco-terrorist organisation known as the Peace Conquerors.{{cite book |last=Ponsaers |first=Paul|date=2 April 2020|title=Terrorisme in België: Polarisering en politiek geweld |language=nl |trans-title=Terrorism in Belgium: Polarisation and political violence|publisher=Compel & Svacina|page=308 |isbn=978-9463712095}}{{cite news|date=23 June 1985|title=Police Say They Are Taking Seriously Claim by 'Peace Conquerors' |url=https://apnews.com/article/e260da8ef66297f2bff67ccd55cb344a |work=AP News |location=Frankfurt, West Germany|access-date=19 June 2021}}{{cite book|last=Nagtzaam|first=Gerry|date=27 January 2017|title=From Environmental Action to Ecoterrorism?: Towards a Process Theory of Environmental and Animal Rights Oriented Political Violence|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|page=284|isbn=978-1785367359}}{{cite news |author= |title=Chemical Company Bombed in Brussels|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/23/world/around-the-world-chemical-company-bombed-in-brussels.html|work=New York Times|date=23 June 1985|access-date=19 June 2021}}
In August, Chantal Paternostre was arrested after her fingerprints were found in a Brussels apartment used by the group during a police raid in 1984,{{cite news |last1=Logeart|first1=Agathe|last2=Fralon |first2=José-Alain |date=17 December 1985|title=Sur la piste des lampistes |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1985/12/17/i-sur-la-piste-des-lampistes_2757722_1819218.html|work=Le Monde |location=Brussels|access-date=19 June 2021|trans-title=On the trail of lamp workers|language=fr|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |last=Wielaard |first=Robert |date=18 December 1985|title=Belgian Minister Says Arrests Virtually Wiped Out Fighting Communist Cells |url=https://apnews.com/article/517329da296715e7f738394adefd9731|work=AP News|location=Brussels, Belgium|access-date=20 June 2021}} on the suspicion of her involvement with FRAP. In January 1986, Luc Van Acker would similar be arrested following a police raid on a hideout.{{cite news |last=Casert |first=Raf|date=22 January 1986|title=Police Announce Breakthroughs in Fight against Terrorism|url=https://apnews.com/article/3d3cc8b2bdbcfbe07d6c0678a891b580|work=AP News|location=Brussels, Belgium|access-date=20 June 2021}}
Paternoste and Acker would appear before the Brussels court of assizes on 26 September 1988, alongside Pierre Carette and other associates of far-left extremist groups.{{cite news |author= |title=BELGIQUE : le procès des Cellules communistes combattantes Pierre Carette et ses comparses ont à répondre de vingt et un attentats et de deux assassinats |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1988/09/27/belgique-le-proces-des-cellules-communistes-combattantes-pierre-carette-et-ses-comparses-ont-a-repondre-de-vingt-et-un-attentats-et-de-deux-assassinats_4086934_1819218.html |work=Le Monde |date=27 September 1988|language=French|trans-title=BELGIUM: the trial of Communist Fighting Cells Pierre Carette and his associates have to answer for twenty-one attacks and two assassinations|url-access=subscription|access-date=22 June 2021}}{{cite book |last=Dartnell|first=Michael|date=11 October 2013|title=Action Directe: Ultra Left Terrorism in France 1979-1987|publisher=Routledge|pages=172–173 |isbn=978-1135210496}} The defendants accepted the legitimacy of the trial, unlike the CCC defendants which withdrew its lawyers and began a hunger strike. The tried FRAP members would be sentenced for five years in prison.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Schmid|first1=Alex|last2=Jongman|first2=Albert |date=1988|title=Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature|publisher=Transaction Publishers|page=508|isbn=1412815665}}
- {{cite book |author= |date=10 February 1986|title=Terrorism Review |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP87T00685R000200320002-1.pdf |location= |publisher=Directorate of Intelligence|pages=1–3|isbn=}}
External links
- [https://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/proletarian-revolutionary-action-front-frap-belgium FRAP] on Tracking Terrorism.
- [https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?perpetrator=50007 FRAP] on Global Terrorism Database.
Category:Defunct communist militant groups
Category:Paramilitary organisations based in Belgium
Category:Communist organizations in Europe
Category:Terrorist incidents in Belgium in the 1980s