Belgian court strikes down order shuttering conservative conference
from ADF:
Free speech PREVAILS for “NatCon”.
The Belgian justice system has acted to protect the freedoms of speech and assembly with a decisive emergency late-night ruling in favour of the conference on National Conservativism.
The conference, scheduled for April 16-17th, will be free to meet today for its second day of talks without further interference from state authorities, the Conseil d’État, the highest court in Belgium relating to issues of public administration, has ruled.
The program features several elected officials and high-profile public figures, including UK parliamentarian Miriam Cates, former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and German Cardinal Ludwig Müller.
A legal challenge was filed by conference organisers, with support from ADF International, regarding the authorities’ decision to prohibit the conference, hosted in Brussels, from continuing since 12pm on 16th April. The venue was surrounded by police, and speakers and guests outside were denied access.
In the decision, considered a victory for free speech, the court decided that “Article 26 of the Constitution [of Belgium] grants everyone the right to assemble peacefully,” and although the mayor has the authority to make police ordinances in case of “serious disturbance of the public peace or other unforeseen events,” in this case there was no sufficient threat of violence to justify this. The Court reasoned that “it does not seem possible to infer from the contested decision that a peace-disrupting effect is attributed to the congress itself”. Rather, as the decision notes, “the threat to public order seems to be derived purely from the reactions that its organization might provoke among opponents”.
Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, human rights lawyer and speaker at the conference, said:
Watch: Labour MP Wes Streeting and colleagues find Conservative event being closed down to be amusing. Alex Deane comments. GB News
Read also: The NatCon Siege: Why is the New Elite so Terrified of a Bunch of Middle-Aged Men Spouting Mainstream, Fairly Anodyne Right-of-Centre Policy Positions? by Dr David McGrogan, The Daily Sceptic
POLICE STATE: Cops In Brussels, Belgium Prevent Conservatives From Freely Meeting by Michael Shellenberger, Substack
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