ITS: another brush with the law

For a brief moment on Tuesday (11 September), the Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) group of MEPs from the European Parliament had the dubious distinction of having two of its 23 members in custody in two different countries. Ashley Mote was imprisoned in the UK on 4 September. This week Frank Vanhecke of the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang was arrested at a demonstration against the Islamisation of Europe, which the Brussels authorities said was unauthorised. The demonstrators were particularly protesting about Sharia law being applied in Europe. One can see why they might be concerned: brushes with European criminal law are part of the instantly invented identity and tradition of ITS.