“Tinpot dictatorship” fumed one of the National Conservatism Conference organizers.

Police in Brussels moved on Tuesday to shut down an ongoing gathering of Europe’s hard-right elite.

The National Conservatism Conference was set to welcome Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and U.K. politician Nigel Farage over the next two days, but law enforcement arrived two hours into the event at the Claridge venue, near the European Quarter, to inform organizers that the event would be terminated.

“The authorities decided to shut the event due to possibility of public disorder,” a police officer heard by POLITICO told one of the organizers. The shutters had already come down on the venue where Brexit architect Farage was due to give a keynote speech at 11 a.m.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    7 months ago

    “Jamboree” is a weird word to use. I usually see it used in terms of national and international Boy/Girl Scout meetings.

    • idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      One of the writers is not native English speaker, maybe she chose the word? Here where I live we use the word pejoratively for circlejerk gatherings like this one, maybe it’s also common in other parts of Europe.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          7 months ago

          That’s a good point, although that’s unfair to scout jamborees. I wasn’t a boy scout, but it’s my understanding that they learn a lot of useful skills at jamborees. I’m guessing no one will learn anything useful at this event unless people walking by learn what assholes these people are.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    “The authorities decided to shut the event due to possibility of public disorder,” a police officer heard by POLITICO told one of the organizers.

    “It’s really something out of a tinpot dictatorship,” Frank Füredi, one of the organizers from right-wing think tank MCC, which is co-sponsoring the event, told POLITICO.

    The Claridge event space 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, and the liberal mayor of Etterbeek put pressure on the luxury Sofitel hotel to cancel it at the second attempt.

    Emir Kir, the mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode where the Claridge is situated, earlier told POLITICO by email that he would “immediately take measures to ban” the event.

    Anthony Gilland, chief of staff at MCC, told the police that they would challenge the mayor’s decision in court to keep the show on the road.

    Other scheduled attendees at the event included right-wing darlings Suella Braverman, the former U.K. home secretary, and Eric Zemmour, a far-right firebrand who ran to be president of France in 2022.


    The original article contains 333 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 45%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!