Brussels authorities ordered a right-wing political conference taking place in the city to be shut down yesterday, sparking outrage from speakers and guests alike.
With political heavyweights including Nigel Farage and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman in attendance, the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) had aimed to bring together voices from across Europe to share their views on the continent's future political outlook.
However, once Farage was on stage to address the gathered crowd, a Brussels district mayor ordered organisers to wrap up the conference within just 15 minutes.
Emir Kir, the mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in the Belgian capital, said he had issued an order banning the conference from taking place "to guarantee public safety".
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Kir added: "In Etterbeek, in Brussels City and in Saint-Josse, the far-right is not welcome."
Speaking to GB News' Good Afternoon Britain, Farage accused the EU of not liking "alternative points of view", and recalled his experiences as an MEP in which he was "banned from restaurants, bars and coffee shops" for his views.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman also hit out at the decision to shut down the conference, slamming the 'hypocrisy' of the Mayor of Brussels.
Braverman told GB News: "It's frankly staggering that the Mayor of Brussels has deployed his thought police to cancel what is a peaceful event focused on how we can better represent the millions of people around the European continent.
Nigel Farage was delivering a speech at the event GB NEWS"The hypocrisy is also astonishing. Only last year, the Mayor of Brussels hosted the mayor of Tehran, here in Brussels. He’s okay to have the mayor of an autocratic regime in his city, but those of us who want to talk about rights radicalism, as I spoke about today, or standing up for sovereignty and democracy, they attempt to cancel us."
Discussing Britain's exit from the European Union, Braverman told Nigel: "I think it's incredibly concerning that we've seen here an attempt to snuff out and stamp out freedom of speech. You and I are conservative centre-right politicians who voted to leave the European Union through a democratic and legitimate process.
"The reason why we've not managed to stop the boats in the UK is because the Strasbourg Court intervened at the 11th hour through an opaque process without reasons to stop sending flights to Rwanda."
Suella Braverman hit out at Brussels for shutting down the National Conservatism conferenceGB NewsThe Prime Minister's deputy official spokesperson added that the "no-platforming of speakers is damaging to democracy".
They said: “Clearly these reports are extremely disturbing. The Prime Minister is a strong supporter and advocate of free speech and believes it is 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 of speakers is damaging to democracy as a result. Free debate and the exchange of views is vital even when we disagree."
98 per cent of GB News members who voted in the poll believe Brussels is trying to shut down free speech, whereas only two per cent disagreed.