Terroristen beraamden moord op Barroso tijdens EK voetbal (en)
Auteur: | By Andrew Beatty
A hard-line Islamist group, linked to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, planned to assassinate European Commission President José Manuel Durao Barroso during last summer's European football championship, it has emerged.
According to a report in the Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias, the group planned to kill Mr Barroso in the northern city of Porto in June.
A tip-off from the Dutch police revealed that 18 extremists had checked into a hostel in the city. This prompted the then director of the Portuguese Judicial Police to warn Mr Barroso not to leave his hotel.
One of the men is thought to have lived with Mohammed Bouyeri, who earlier this month repeatedly shot and stabbed controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.
A VW vehicle which police believe was to be used in the Porto attack was registered in the Netherlands in Mr Bouyeri's name.
According to the paper, the group planned to kill Mr Barroso during a dinner at the Palacio do Freixo in the city.