About 100 persons took part in an antifascist protest at Surlet de Chokier Square in Brussels against the holding of a conference organised at the Flemish Parliament by the Patriots Network, an international coalition of far-right parties and personalities.
The Patriots Network was founded by Enzo Alias-Blanes, a former member of the executive of the youth wing of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party. Alias-Blanes gained notoriety in 2022 when videos appearing to show him giving a Nazi salute surfaced online.
Initially, the Network’s conference was to have taken place at a restaurant on Brussels’ Grand Place Square. However, the restaurant’s owner cancelled the event due to his establishment’s apolitical stance. The Network urgently sought a new location, and the conference was moved to the Flemish Parliament at the invitation of the far-right Vlaams Belang party.
Invited speakers included Alias-Blanes, RN Euro-parliamentarian Thierry Mariani, Vlaams Belang parliamentarian Johan Deckmyn, and Markus Bucheit from the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Activists from Coördination Antifasciste de Belgique (CAB) deplored the fact that democratic institutions such as the Flemish Parliament could allow a far-right group to hold a conference there.
However, the Vlaams Belang press service said the invitation was fully compliant with regulations.
Thursday night’s protest was peaceful, with participants chanting antifascist slogans and delivering speeches on the dangers of fascism and far-right ideologies.
Police cordoned off the streets around the Flemish Parliament, while security forces were present in large numbers.