‘Brussels elite are like Soviets’ for cancelling Farage event
DOWNING STREET said attempts by police to shut down a conservative conference featuring Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman yesterday were “extremely disturbing”.
Mr Farage was on stage at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels when officers entered the venue to serve a court order demanding its closure with “immediate effect”.
Legal papers, seen by The Telegraph, suggested speeches at the event could cause public disorder, be homophobic or offend minorities.
The conference organisers had already been forced to relocate to the venue on Monday night after a conference hall and a hotel cancelled their bookings over claims of “political pressure” from a Left-wing mayor.
A No10 spokesman said: “Clearly, these reports are 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. He is very clear that free debate and the exchange of views is vital, even where you disagree.”
Suella Braverman, who spoke at the event, criticised the “Brussels thought police” for undermining free speech, while Tory MP Miriam Cates had to be smuggled into the venue to deliver her speech on protecting children. She was disguised in a tartan headscarf and taken through a service entrance.
Writing for The Telegraph today, Mr Farage says: “The monstrous reaction in Brussels to this conference comes as no surprise to me. I was personally banned from restaurants, pubs and coffee bars in my last few years in this city.
“But today, the Brussels elite have exhibited their culture on a global stage. In fact, it’s far more serious than that.
“Cancel culture is saying, ‘I do not want to hear your opinion’. What happened today is an updated form of Soviet communism. It says that no other view is allowed, that anybody that holds it is, by definition, mad, bad, and dangerous. It’s an approach that has, and will always, fail in the end.”
Mr Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, told the audience the police would have to drag him from the stage.
A police cordon was erected to prevent people from entering the venue but officers did not go into the conference room to remove speakers or delegates.
The event was allowed to continue while its organisers mounted a legal challenge against the closure order from Emir Kir, a Brussels mayor.
“This event could undeniably lead to
violent reactions [and] considerable disturbances of public order,” the order signed by the Left-wing official said.
Mr Kir, the long-serving mayor of the city’s Saint-josse district, was kicked out of the Socialist Party in Brussels in 2020 after he met with politicians from Turkey’s far-right.
The event was originally due to be held at the Concert Noble ballroom but on Friday last week Yoram Hazony, the conference chairman, said his team had been told by the venue that it had to pull the event amid “political pressure” from Philippe Close, the Socialist Party mayor of Brussels.
The Claridge club, owned by Lassaad Ben Yaghlane, a Belgian-tunisian businessman, stepped in to host the event.
As the proprietor defied orders to shut it down, officials ordered his car to be towed away, while catering firms were blocked from delivering supplies to the venue. “These are not the people I normally share the same values with,” Mr Ben Yaghlane said of his decision to defy the police.
“The difference is that I understand they want stability and maintaining [of ] traditional values, but we live in a world that evolves a lot at the moment and needs more openness and acceptance for the values of others.”
He has owned the venue, which is more used to hosting weddings, bar mitzvahs and parties, since 2013. Mr Farage said: “He is hugely brave.” The Brexiteer, who gave a speech on his history of clashing with the ruling class in Brussels, said there was “no public order threat” at the event.
Eric Zemmour, a French firebrand delivered his speech on the pavement after he was refused entry by police.
Mr Hazony, the conference chairman, said: “We work hard to make sure fringe elements, political extremists don’t catch a ride on our conferences.”
A spokesman also insisted the conference was “extremely peaceful”.
Frank Furedi, of the MCC Brussels think tank, said the attempt to shut down the event was “an entirely political act, they use security as a technical… political decisions are masqueraded as technical ones.”
Organisers were yesterday working to secure a new venue for the second day of the conference, when Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, is due to speak.
There were doubts the legal challenge to overturn the court order would succeed in time to hold the event.
Ms Cates, the MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said: ‘It’s unbelievable. The one thing that the capital of the European Union is supposed to stand for is democracy and an attitude of allowing people to speak.
“It’s just incredible. Many of the speakers are elected politicians in their own countries and people can disagree with them but they’re legally elected.
“It’s just extraordinary that there’s been an attempt to shut them down like this. It’s the opposite of liberalism.”