Downing Street has called the reports of Brussels police attempting to shut down a conference attended by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Nigel Farage “extremely disturbing.”
The National Conservatism Conference, scheduled for April 16 and 17 in Brussels, was disrupted on Tuesday, after people were stopped from entering it a few hours after it began.
Citing concerns about public safety, Brussels authorities ordered the police to close the conference. Attendees were allowed to leave the Claridge event centre in the Saint-Josse district, but not to reenter.
Downing Street said that reports of police action were “extremely disturbing.”
“The prime minister is a strong supporter and advocator for free speech and he believes that should be fundamental to any democracy. Speaking more broadly to the principle of such events, he is very clear that cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result,” a Number 10 spokeswoman said.
She added that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is “very clear that free debate and the exchange of views is vital, even where you disagree.”
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has stressed that banning political meetings was unconstitutional. In a message on the social media platform X, he 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 … ”
Attendees
Keynote speakers at the conference, Mr. Farage and Ms. Braverman, have condemned police actions, ordered by Brussels authorities.Mr. Farage called the “Brussels elite bullying and anti-democratic.”
“At the meeting, over the next two days, you’ve got the Prime Minister of Hungary, you’ve got a bishop, you’ve got members of the European royal families coming, well-known international businessmen and women, politicians, leaders of parties that will win European elections in countries this year in June.
“And yet, because they are questioning ever-closer union, because they are questioning globalism, they are literally being shut down,” Mr. Farage said.
In her speech to the conference on Tuesday, Ms. Braverman called for the imminent exit of the UK from the European Convention of Human Rights, which she said was incompatible with parliamentary democracy.
Reacting to the disruption in Claridge, she called it “laughable” and suggested that Brussels authorities didn’t want to hear about border security and protection of citizens.
“If only the globalists in Brussels put as much energy into securing our borders as they did in trying to gag conservatives, maybe our continent would be in a healthier state,” said Ms. Braverman.
Mayor of Saint-Josse district, Emir Kit, said he issued the ban to ensure public safety.
“The far right is not welcome,” he added on X.
The National Conservatism conference, organised by a think-tank called the Edmund Burke Foundation, aims to “strengthen the principles of national conservatism in Western and other democratic countries.”
The list of confirmed speakers in Brussels includes the former prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and the prime minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.
Mr. Orban took the stage on Wednesday, discussing immigration in Hungary and the upcoming European elections.
“The Belgian police decided to shut down the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels just two hours after it started,” Mr. Orban said on X.
“I guess they couldn’t take free speech any longer. The last time they wanted to silence me with the police was when the Communists set them on me in ‘88. We didn’t give up then and we will not give up this time either!” he added.
According to the conference website, the upcoming EU parliamentary elections “add urgency” to demonstrating the relevance of Conservative ideals for the future of the nations of Europe.
