The mayor of Brussels who tried to cancel the hotel hosting the National Conservatism conference hosted the mayor of the Iranian capital Tehran.
Mayor Philippe Close hosted Alireza Zakani alongside other officials at the Brussels Urban Summit at the Town Hall.
Mayor Zakani was placed under sanctions by the UK in 2023 on the grounds that he had been "involved in the commission of serious human rights violations or abuses in Iran."
The Tehran mayor attended the event along with 14 Iranian officials and two Russian officials.
Mayor Zakani was hosted by Mayor Philippe Close
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Mayor Alireza Zakani was hosted at the event along with 14 Iranian officials and two Russian officials, to the Urban Summit. The accommodation costs for these officials were paid by the Brussels region.
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There was a backlash to last year's event, with foreign affairs minister of the region of Brussels Pascal Smet resigning.
He acknowledged that it was a mistake for the Brussels government to foot the bill for the Iranian and Russian officials, but he blamed the error on one of his workers.
Nonetheless, Smet took responsibility for the mistake and resigned.
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Police at the scene in Brussels
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Brussels police shut down a hard-right political gathering and take security measures around the venue in Brussels, Belgium
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The National Conservatism Conference was set to welcome Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán tomorrow, with both Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman speaking earlier today.
However, law enforcement arrived two hours into the event at the Claridge venue, near the European Quarter, to inform organisers that the event would be terminated
Emir Kir, the mayor of Brussels district Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, said he had issued an order banning the National Conservatism conference from taking place on Tuesday "to guarantee public safety."
He added: "In Etterbeek, in Brussels City and in Saint-Josse, the far-right is not welcome."
Nigel Farage gives a speech on Day 1 of The National Conservatism Conference at the Claridge
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Farage said the conference attendees were "respectable people" and "there's no protest of significance" happening against it. He added: "It's about closing down an ideology."
Frank Füredi, one of the organisers from right-wing think tank MCC, which is co-sponsoring the event, told POLITICO: "It’s really something out of a tinpot dictatorship.
“They’re trying to use a technical reason to make a political point. They told the owner that if it doesn’t get shut down they’re gonna cut the electricity."
