Bully of Brussels cancel culture mayor who tried to stop Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman once hosted Iranian politician sanctioned by the UK for human rights abuses and Russian officials
- Farage was among speakers at the disrupted event in Brussels on Tuesday
- Mayors in the Belgian city tried to cancel the conference, 'pressuring' venues
The Brussels mayor who tried to block a right-wing conference attended by Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman on Tuesday once hosted an Iranian politician since sanctioned by the UK and implicated in 'rights violations or abuses' in Iran.
Mayor Philippe Close, who pressured a venue in Belgium not to host the National Conservatism Conference on Tuesday, last June welcomed Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani to the Brussels Urban Summit alongside a number of global counterparts.
Despite joining in efforts to push back on the conservative event in Belgium, Close at the time championed the congress focusing on 'sustainable development and social inclusion' alongside the standing mayor of the Iranian capital.
The event caused controversy in Belgium and prompted the resignation of Brussels' foreign affairs minister, Pascal Smet, who admitted it was a mistake to invite Zakani along with 14 Iranian officials and two Russians - put up in hotel rooms at Belgium's expense.
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Zakani, an ultra-conservative within Iran, was soon after placed on the UK's sanctions list, 'because he is and has been involved in the commission of serious human rights violations or abuses in Iran'.
Close was nonetheless among several who attempted to stop the National Conservatism Conference from going ahead yesterday, as police officers told organisers authorities were intervening due to the 'possibility of public disorder'.
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