Farage and Orbán’s Brussels jamboree descends into mayhem amid police siege

 

Farage and Orbán’s Brussels jamboree descends into mayhem amid police siege

 

“Tinpot dictatorship,” a National Conservatism Conference organizer fumed at local mayors.

 

APRIL 16, 2024 12:22 PM CET

BY EDDY WAX AND CLAUDIA CHIAPPA

https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-police-shut-down-nigel-farage-viktor-orban-right-wing-jamboree/

 

BRUSSELS — A gathering of Europe’s hard-right elite in Brussels descended into chaos on Tuesday as police moved to shut down the conference, barricading the venue’s entrance and causing widespread outrage.

 

The National Conservatism Conference had been set to welcome Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and U.K. politician Nigel Farage over the next two days, but law enforcement arrived two hours into the event at the Claridge venue, near the European Quarter, to inform organizers that the shindig would be terminated.

 

“The authorities decided to shut the event due to possibility of public disorder,” a police officer heard by POLITICO told one of the organizers. The shutters had already come down on the venue where Brexit architect Farage was due to give a keynote speech at 11 a.m.

 

When he got on stage, as drama continue to unfold outside the venue, Farage lambasted the Brussels authorities as “simply monstrous” for attempting to cancel the event. “I knew I wouldn’t be welcome back in Brussels,” the former MEP chafed.

 

The Brexit champion wasn’t alone in his stinging critiques of the city’s bureaucracy.

 

“It’s really something out of a tinpot dictatorship,” Frank Füredi, one of the organizers from right-wing think tank MCC, which is co-sponsoring the event, told POLITICO. “They’re trying to use a technical reason to make a political point. They told the owner that if it doesn’t get shut down they’re gonna cut the electricity.”

 

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, a Flemish liberal, also said: “What happened at the Claridge today is unacceptable. Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy but can never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly since 1830. Banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop.”

 

Food smuggled in

About an hour after they initially arrived, the police returned at 12:45 p.m. to hand an official order to the event’s local organizer, Anthony Gilland, chief of staff at MCC. The police gave him 15 minutes to read and sign the three-page document.

 

“One of the reasons that we’ve been given, it’s not the only reason, is that there will be a counterprotest this afternoon around about 5 p.m. and the idea is that the police are not able to protect free speech at this event,” he said.

 

By 2 p.m. the standoff had lasted for nearly three hours. Some attendees had left, but most stuck around to listen to the remaining panelists.

 

The Claridge event space was already the conference’s third venue, after its first space — Concert Noble — turned them away under pressure from the socialist mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, while the liberal mayor of Etterbeek pressured the luxury Sofitel hotel to cancel it on the second attempt.

 

Emir Kir, the mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode where the Claridge is situated, told POLITICO earlier by email that he would “immediately take measures to ban” the event.

 

At one point the Belgian-Tunisian owner of the venue, Lassaad Ben Yaghlane, 59, said a compromise had been reached with the local mayor and the police to allow the event to continue.

 

Police said they would stop new arrivals from entering the venue, but promised not to stop the conference by force or remove people already inside.

 

Speakers including French provocateur Eric Zemmour, who was slated to give a keynote speech at 4 p.m., and French MEP Patricia Chagnon were among those whom police stopped from entering the venue.

 

While police created a barricade outside the venue, conference-goers took a break to enjoy appetizers including carpaccio with asparagus, smoked salmon and guacamole bowls.

 

According to Füredi, the conference organizers had to contact a new catering service after the original one was prevented from coming to the venue.

 

Organizers were eventually able to “smuggle in” food for dinner, after lunch plans were thwarted by the police siege.

 

Orbán rages

Farage paid tribute to the Claridge owner, calling him a “brave Tunisian man” who stood up to the “bullyboys” that wanted to shut down the conference.

 

Ben Yaghlane defended the right of the conference organizers to hold their event, even though he said he did not share their values.

 

“Today we are in front of a classic dilemma, it repeats in every decade: whether we choose to speak to each other and not to judge each other, or we decide to … widen conflicts and the reasons to separate,” he said.

 

The police told organizers there was a risk of protesters causing civil disorder at the venue later in the afternoon. Gilland told the police they would challenge the mayor’s decision in court to keep the show on the road.

 

Orbán, who is scheduled to speak at the conference on Wednesday, criticized the “leftist liberal leadership” of Brussels during a press conference at the European Parliament.

 

“The plan is that we come and occupy Brussels,” he said.

 

A spokesperson for the U.K.’s conservative prime minister, Rishi Sunak, also seized on the dispute, saying “these reports are extremely disturbing.”

 

“The prime minister is a strong supporter and advocate for free speech. He is very clear that canceling events or no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and democracy,” the spokesperson said. “He is an advocate of free speech even when you may disagree.”

 

Guests had started pouring into the venue early Tuesday, lining up for coffee, croissants and seats ahead of the packed conference. The venue was crammed with blue and black suits, a blend of academics, students and officials from around the world.

 

Organizers boasted of their victory over woke leaders in Brussels, but their exhilaration was short-lived. Around 11 a.m., shortly before Farage was scheduled to speak, word of the police presence began to spread through the venue.

 

Other scheduled attendees included right-wing darlings Suella Braverman, the former U.K. home secretary, and Eric Zemmour, a far-right firebrand who ran to be president of France in 2022.

 

The NatCon conference is organized by the Edmund Burke Foundation, a right-wing think tank.

 

“I understand the police are very, very keen to close this down. If they’re going to close it down they can do it with me on stage,” Farage said in his final remarks. The audience cheered and hollered.

 

Stefan Boscia contributed to this report.

 

This story has been updated.