Brussels police tries to shut down NatCon

Happy NatCon day, one and all. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when some of Europe’s most vocal right-wing exponents get together in a room for the annual National Conservatism conference. Last year’s shindig was in Westminster and spawned numerous headlines about British Members of Parliament Miriam Cates and Lee Anderson. This time though it’s being held in Brussels: home of well-paid Eurocrats and overzealous officials. Where better to make a stand for conservatism?

The line-up includes Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and Nigel Farage. The former UKIP leader encountered some difficulty this morning after arriving on stage at the Claridge venue in the Belgian capital. For the Brussels police then turned up to try to shut NatCon down, with organizers claiming they had been given just fifteen minutes to stop the conference on the grounds of potential “public disorder.” American speakers and panel chairs include Rod Dreher, Yoram Hazony and Saurabh Sharma.

The Claridge was already the conference’s third venue, after its first space — Concert Noble — turned them away under pressure from the socialist mayor of Brussels Philippe Close. The liberal mayor of Etterbeek then put pressure on the luxury Sofitel hotel to cancel it at the second attempt. Police are now lining the door, preventing people entering, including MEP Patricia Chagnon. The NatCon organizers have since announced they will be legally challenging the order to shut down the event. Farage has meanwhile left the stage and is now doing a media tour, comparing the shutdown to Soviet Russia.

So much for free speech eh…

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.