Police told to shut down right-wing Brussels conference
By Nick Beake in Brussels and Laura Gozzi
Brussels police have been ordered to shut down a conference attended by right-wing politicians across Europe, including Nigel Farage and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Organisers say the National Conservatism Conference in the Belgian capital is continuing, but guests are no longer allowed to enter.
Local authorities had raised concerns over public safety.
A UK spokeswoman called reports of police action “extremely disturbing”.
She said that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was a “strong supporter and advocator for free speech” and that he was “very clear that cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result”.
Nigel Farage, who took to the stage this morning, told the BBC 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.
Organised by a think-tank called the Edmund Burke Foundation, the National Conservatism Conference is a global movement which espouses what it describes as traditional values, which it claims are being “undermined and overthrown”. It also opposes further European integration.
