The first Belgian law proposal against racism was introduced in the wake of the signature by Belgium of the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination at the Chamber of deputies by the Socialist MP Ernest Glinne on December 1, 1966, at the request of the MRAX (Movement against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, Belgian equivalent of the French MRAP) which had prepared the proposal.
[2][3][4] On July 20, 1980, a terrorist attack against Jewish children took place in Antwerp (Lamorinièrestraat),[5] then a French-Algerian man was killed on December 4 in Brussels by members of the extreme right wing Front de la jeunesse,[6] and a large antiracist demonstration took place in Brussels.
The Justice Minister took the opportunity of this public mood to introduce the law project before the Parliament without consulting the prime minister, and only a few right-wing MPs opposed it, according to him "the far right, some right-wing liberals and a group of Flemish Christian Democrats MPs who had closed links with the South African apartheid regime".
Main: Law of July 30, 1981 on the punishment of certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, published in the Moniteur Belge (M.B.)
of August 8, 1981 Further related legislation:[8] Wim Elbers, a higher police officer who was also a municipal councillor for the far-right Vlaams Blok since 1994 in Brussels, was condemned on December 22, 1999, to a 2,500 Euro fine and a six-month suspended sentence for propagating hate mail on usenet.