Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Brussels of violating freedom of speech after canceling a conservative conference in the Belgian capital.
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“The Belgian police decided to ban the ‘Conference of National Conservatism’ in Brussels just two hours after it started. I think they could no longer tolerate freedom of speech,” Orban wrote on social media.
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Earlier, the mayor of the municipality of Saint-Josse-Ten-Node in the Brussels-Capital Region, Emir Kier, banned the holding of a European conference of the European right-wing conservative political forces, in which Orban and other right-wing politicians were supposed to participate. Previously, the organizers were refused to rent premises in two other districts of Brussels.
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He said the last time they “tried to silence him with the help of the police” was when he spoke out against communism in Hungary in 1988.
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“We didn’t give up then and we won’t give up this time either!” – Orban added.
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He wrote on Facebook that Brussels has “reached a new level.”
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“If someone advocates peace, he is simply banned. Miracles do not happen, on June 9 we need to speak out that we do not want war,” the Hungarian prime minister noted.
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As the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported, the mayor of Brussels threatened to cut off the electricity in the event hall, and Belgian police, who arrived at the conference site, were “scared of the cameras” and left for reinforcements. Police said the event “endangered public safety” and ordered it to stop.
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The conference was to take place over two days, with Orbán scheduled to speak on Wednesday morning. In addition to him, the event was to be attended by former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists faction Ryszard Legutko, former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman and other politicians from European conservative parties.
