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18-04-2024
BRUSSELS: Brussels police were ordered to shut down a conference for right-wing politicians, including Brexiteer Nigel Farage and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, on Tuesday.
People were stopped from entering the National Conservatism Conference a few hours after it began, organizers said – although it continued for those inside.
The local mayor said he issued the order to ensure public security.
Organizers of the conference said they “overcame attempts to silence” them.
They said they plan to continue with the conference on Wednesday, writing: “See you again tomorrow!” on X.
Hungary’s Orban who is due to speak there – has reacted with indignation, posting on Facebook: “Brussels just moved up a gear. If anyone stands up for peace, they are simply banned.
“No question, on 9 June we have to say clearly: No War!” he added, referring to the date of the European elections.
The move to shut down the conference was also criticized by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who called it “unacceptable”.
“Banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop,” De Croo wrote on X.
Referring to the fact that it was the local mayor, Emir Kir, who opposed the conference, De Croo said that while municipal autonomy was a cornerstone of Belgium’s democracy, it could “never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech” and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called reports of police action “extremely disturbing”.
Sunak’s spokesperson said he was a “strong supporter and advocator for free speech” and believed “cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result”.
Sunak’s own MP, Suella Braverman, was at the event earlier with Braverman telling media she was not thrown out and was able to deliver her speech.
The National Conservatism Conference reportedly started at about 08:00 (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday and ran uninterrupted for around three hours until police arrived to enforce the order from Mayor Kir and asked the organizers to make attendees leave.
Police then blocked the entrance to the venue and did not permit anyone to enter, though people were allowed to leave.
Kir, the mayor of the Saint-Josse district of the city, said he issued the ban to ensure public security.
In a message to organizers, Kir said some of the attendees of Tuesday’s conference held anti-gay and anti-abortion views. “Among these personalities there are several particularly from the right-conservative, religious right and European extreme right,” his statement said.
“The far right is not welcome,” he added on X.
Farage, who took to the stage this morning, told media the decision to close down the conference because there were homophobes in the audience was “cobblers”, and that he condemned the decision as an attempt to stifle free speech.
“Thank God For Brexit”, he said.
Organized by a think-tank called the Edmund Burke Foundation, the National Conservatism Conference is a global movement embracing what it describes as traditional values, which it claims are being “undermined and overthrown”. It also opposes further European integration.
The conference said it aimed to bring together “public figures, journalists, scholars and students” who understood the connection between conservatism and the idea of nationhood and national traditions. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
