Brussels Mayor Attempts To Shut Down National Conservatism Conference by Force
This is not how leaders of a free society behave.
At 7:29 Eastern time this morning, the @NatConTalk account on the website formerly known as Twitter reported that police in Brussels, Belgium, had arrived at the site of the second Brussels-based National Conservatism Conference “with an order to shut NatCon down for creating a public disturbance.” An English translation of the order shared by a lawyer cites the fact that participants are from the “conservative and religious right” and that they express a “‘Eurosceptic’ attitude” as reasons for prohibiting the two-day event.
The document also claims that “it cannot be ruled out that…extremist groups are associating themselves with this event” and that the conference “could undeniably lead to violent reactions.” It is signed by Emir Kir, mayor of the Saint-Josse-ten-Nood municipality and a member of Belgium’s Socialist Party.
Police didn’t, in the end, break up Day 1 of the NatCon Brussels 2 program, but they did prevent anyone not already inside, including scheduled speakers, from entering the venue, according to subsequent posts from organizers and attendees. They also attempted to halt all food and beverage deliveries, according to reports from people on the ground.Â
Organizers have initiated a legal challenge to the shut-down order, according to @NatConTalk. “There is no public disturbance and no grounds to shut down a gathering of politicians, intellectuals, journalists, students, civic leaders, and concerned citizens,” the account added. The Alliance Defending Freedom’s international arm has announced it will back the effort.Â
This afternoon, a group of right-of-center figures that includes several Reason contributors released an open letter “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms the Belgian authorities’ attempts to shut down, without due process, the National Conservatism Conference underway in Brussels.” It notes that the signatories object to the attempt despite fundamental disagreements with the natcon worldview. “We say this as critics of national conservatism, not allies,” the document reads. “Indeed, we believe that national conservatism as a political and ideological movement is profoundly mistaken, both empirically and normatively, on most fronts
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