Outcry over the banning of a meeting of the nationalist right in Brussels

(Brussels) Brussels authorities on Tuesday ordered the interruption of a controversial meeting of representatives of the nationalist right, including Éric Zemmour and Nigel Farage, a decision denounced as an attack on freedom of expression by several European heads of government .

“Communal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy, but can never prevail over the Belgian Constitution, which has guaranteed freedom of expression and peaceful assembly since 1830,” underlined the head of the Belgian government Alexander De Croo on the X network.

The Flemish liberal leader considered “unacceptable” the decision of the mayor of the Brussels commune of Saint-Josse, the socialist elected official Emir Kir, to ban this meeting opened on Tuesday morning after a few hours.

Same tone from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who described the decision as “extremely worrying”.

“This leaves us incredulous and dismayed,” declared Italian Giorgia Meloni, head of an ultra-conservative government.

“We are really in the register of old-fashioned communism, basically if you do not agree with me you must be banned,” criticized one of the main headliners of the meeting. , Nigel Farage, champion of Brexit.

The Briton was among the speakers of the morning, at the time when the Brussels police notified the organizers of the “National Conservatism Conference” (NatCon) of its ban due to a risk of disturbing public order.

We must “guarantee public safety” and “the extreme right is not welcome”, justified Emir Kir on his Facebook page, while anti-fascist activists promised to demonstrate at the end of the day at the conference venue.

A few weeks before the European elections, several hundred Eurosceptic nationalist and conservative leaders, including many MEPs, participated in “NatCon” on the first of the two days planned for the debates, according to AFP journalists.

Around 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Eastern time), Éric Zemmour was confronted by a police cordon when he wanted to access the room in Saint-Josse.

The French polemicist, surrounded by cameras, left the scene after describing Europe and Brussels as “gravediggers” of freedom of expression.

Police could remain deployed on site until Wednesday to prevent any access to the building, with organizers not ruling out that the conference could continue elsewhere for its second day.

“Guests to leave”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was the headliner announced for Wednesday, when he is also due to participate in a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

On Tuesday, he denounced methods worthy in his eyes of the Soviet era.

“The last time they wanted to silence me by sending the police was in 1988 with the Communists,” Viktor Orban wrote on X.

“NatCon” had already encountered two cancellations in recent days in two other Brussels municipalities.

On Tuesday, the banning order from the mayor of Saint-Josse was not accompanied by an evacuation of the premises, and some of the participants were still there at the end of the day.

“There is a dialogue, we have already asked them to leave several times, we do not know what they want to do,” a spokesperson for the local police told AFP.

Less than two months before the renewal of the European Parliament (by a vote in the 27 member countries scheduled between June 6 and 9), this nationalist and eurosceptic gathering takes place against a backdrop of the growing influence of this political family in many European states .

These forces are divided, in Parliament, into two political groups; on one side, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and on the other, Identity and Democracy (ID).

Some experts predict that one of them could, the day after June 9, take the place of 3^e political force of the Strasbourg Parliament behind the pro-European right (EPP) and the socialists.