Brussels conservative conference reopens after Belgian PM intervenes

A conservative conference in Brussels that police attempted to shut down during a speech by Nigel Farage reopened on Wednesday after a court overturned the mayor’s order to shut it down.

At 2am, Belgium’s highest administrative court threw out Emir Kir’s attempt to cancel the National Conservatism gathering on the grounds that it endangered public safety.

The decision came after Alexander de Croo, Belgium’s centre-Right prime minister, decried attempts to gag the conference as an “unacceptable” breach of the country’s constitution.

Police officers were dispatched to shut down the conference on Tuesday as Mr Farage delivered a speech to delegates.

Instead of clearing the venue, they refused to allow people into the building after organisers mounted a court challenge against the order.

With organisers scrambling to find a fourth venue to host the second day of the meeting, a judge agreed to hear an “extraordinary” appeal against the mayor’s legal order to shut down the venue.

Jean-Paul Van De Walle, a lawyer for the conference, told The Telegraph: “It is probably because there was a blatant violation of the most basic fundamental rights that this hearing could happen so quickly.”

A lawyer for Mr Kir argued that the injunction against the event should be upheld because of alleged security threats posed to guests of the conference and pedestrians outside. The mayor also claimed speakers could express views deemed homophobic or racist.

Judge Francis Van Nuffel, an acting president of Belgium’s Council of State court, said the conference should have continued despite the threat posed by counter-protests from Left-wing groups.

He added that the role of the police should have been to maintain order by containing demonstrators rather than cancelling the event.

Mr Van De Walle said: “The judge pointed towards these inconsistencies but also mentioned that the way things went was a breach of fundamental requirements of free speech.

“What happened yesterday was not inspired by security concerns, but rather ideological concerns. It’s basically silencing people you disagree with, which should never happen in a democratic society. It was a huge blow for Brussels as the capital of European democracy.

“So we must rejoice today that justice has been served – and from my point of view, as a Belgian citizen I was quite ashamed of what was happening in my own country.”

Paul Coleman, a human rights lawyer who led efforts to overturn the mayor’s ruling, added: “In allowing the National Conservatism Conference to continue, the administrative court has come down on the side of basic human rights. While common sense and justice have prevailed, what happened yesterday is a dark mark on European democracy.

“No official should have the power to shut down a free and peaceful assembly merely because he disagrees with what is being said. How can Brussels claim to be the heart of Europe if its officials only allow one side of the European conversation to be heard?

“The kind of authoritarian censorship we have just witnessed belongs in the worst chapters of Europe’s history. Thankfully, the court has acted swiftly to prevent the repression of our fundamental freedoms to both assembly and speech, thus protecting these essential characteristics of democracy for another day.”