The far-right and conservative Patriots Network will be hosting its Brussels conference in the Flemish Parliament on Thursday. In response, anti-fascist groups will be organising a protest demonstration.
The international network of far-right groups is hosting a series of events across Europe in the coming months, including a conference in Brussels on Thursday 30 January. It had initially planned to meet up at the restaurant ‘Le Chaloupe d'Or’ on the Grand Place in Brussels. However, several anti-fascist groups put pressure on the restaurant through e-mail and social media campaigns, resulting in the venue's owner cancelling the event at the end of last week.
"That said, we regret that the Chaloupe d'Or only justified its cancellation of the conference because it was apolitical, and not because of the ideological content of the conference, which was racist and hateful," Réseau Ades, a Brussels anti-fascist organisation, wrote on social media.
It added that the group "still has time to find a new venue" and on Tuesday confirmed that a new location had been found. The Patriots Network will now be meeting in a room in the Flemish Parliament. "The fachos are once again hiding out in the neutral zone, no doubt at the invitation of Vlaams Belang," Réseau Ades said. "It's a scandal that the Nazi salutes are entering the Flemish Parliament." The location has not yet been updated on the event page.
The news was confirmed to Belga News Agency by the Parliament's press service. It said the group is in accordance with parliamentary regulations.
What is Patriots Network?
The Patriots Network operates in Italy, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Brazil, Portugal, Flanders and the United States, among other countries.
The group was founded by Enzo Alias-Blanes, a former member of the national leadership of the youth wing of the French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN). He was discredited in 2022 over images circulating on the internet showing him giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute.
Alias-Blanes, who is also president of the Patriots Network, denied the gesture and believed it was about a photo montage and forgery of an existing photograph.
According to Brussels anti-fascist groups, Noa Pozzi, a former list leader of the far-right Walloon party ‘Chez Nous’, also holds a Patriots Network membership card.
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Alias-Blanes and Pozzi are among those invited to the lecture in the Flemish Parliament. Also on the programme are the MEP for the Rassemblement National (RN) Thierry Mariani, Vlaams Belang MP Johan Deckmyn, Markus Bucheit, a member of the far-right German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and Adrian Axinia, vice-president of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
Several Brussels anti-fascist organisations are calling for mass protests against the arrival of the Patriots Network Thursday at 18:30 on Surlet de Chokier Square, a stone's throw from the Flemish Parliament.
