Belgium has been faced with a reckoning over racism in the country, after two major scandals in a single week.

On Thursday a youth movement that appeared to champion traditional Flemish Conservative values was exposed as a cover for a far right anti-Semitic group that was plotting to infiltrate Dutch-speaking mainstream political parties.

In an unrelated case, a black weather presenter on the lead French-language broadcaster revealed she is regularly targeted with racist abuse in a tearful video posted online.

The Schild en Vreinden group was seen as Flemish nationalist but still respectable until an investigation by broadcaster VRT revealed that its closed online discussion groups were rife with anti-Semitic hate speech and imagery.

The exposé also revealed the group planned to take over conventional political groups such as the Flemish Youth Council and hoped to stand in local elections for the N-VA, which is Belgium’s most popular party and a member of the ruling coalition led by Charles Michel, the prime minister.

Belgium’s leading French language broadsheet covered both stories on its front page on Friday under the headline “racism must not pass”.