Italian MEP Benedetta Scuderi was forcibly removed by Brussels police on Wednesday while protesting against a far-right "remigration" rally outside the European Parliament.
According to a social media video shared by the Greens/EFA lawmaker, the Brussels police had prevented Scuderi from walking down a street after attending the counter-demonstration.
The MEP says she was on her way to her office, and there were no far-right demonstrators on that specific street, a few hundred metres from the European Parliament.
"I was grabbed and forcibly moved aside, even though other people were walking around me. Perhaps it was the peace flag I was holding that frightened the police?" she wrote on social media after the incident.
After refusing to comply, the elected lawmaker was physically lifted and dragged back across the road.
She further said in the social media post that her request for an explanation was met with aggressive and peremptory demands that she says were "completely without substance".
"It is absurd that such scenes should take place in Europe, in Brussels, in front of the Parliament, while on the other side of the road a few dozen people are protesting in favour of the deportation of human beings, racism and violence," she further said.
Benedetta Scuderi MEP (Greens/EFA - Italy) speaking in the European Parliament. Credit: EU
When contacted by The Brussels Times for comment, the Brussels/Ixelles police zone confirmed they had been at the location to supervise the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging (NSV) far-right demonstration, as well as the counter-demonstration.
"It was essential that the two groups did not come into contact with one another," a police spokesperson told The Brussels Times. "At one point, a woman carrying a flag entered the security cordon established between the two groups, despite the instructions issued to allow the counter-demonstration to take place."
According to the police, the MEP was repeatedly requested to leave the area, but refused to comply. "In order to ensure her own safety as well, she was removed from the area using the necessary and proportionate force," they stated.
A heightened security presence around the European Parliament had been necessary due to a far-right rally being organised in Place Luxembourg on Wednesday after lunch.
It was co-organised by Dutch and Austrian far-right influencers in collaboration with the NSV, a far-right Flemish nationalist student association which has reportedly seen Nazi salutes during its past demonstrations, according to VRT.
Wednesday's rally was calling for the inflammatory concept of "remigration", as part of the ‘Save Europe Act’ campaign, which calls for the deportation of non-European migrants, a halt to migration and a voluntary deportation framework.
Dries Van Langenhove, a former Vlaams Belang MP who has had two convictions for Holocaust denial and hate speech, addressed supporters during the rally at Place Luxembourg.
Illustration image shows heavy police presence at a demonstration by the Nationalist Students Association (NSV) under the slogan 'Red onze natie, remoigratie!' (Save our nation, remigration!), in Leuven, Thursday 26 March 2026. Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosens
The event had been initially banned by the Ixelles Mayor Romain de Reusme (PS), citing the violence seen at the last NSV rally in Leuven.
However, much like the NatCon 2024 controversy, this decision was overturned by the Belgian Council of State just before, allowing the event to go ahead.
In response, Mayor De Reusme took note of the ruling, but said this decision raises issues that go beyond a purely legal framework.
According to the Ixelles mayor, the gathering had been presented to him as a student demonstration, whereas in reality it forms part of a much broader mobilisation by the European far-right, Belga News Agency reports.
He believes that these movements base their rhetoric on disinformation and the distortion of facts to fuel fear and garner support for ideas "that sow division and hatred".
In the mayor's view, the right to demonstrate – which he describes as fundamental – must evolve so that democracy can protect itself against those who use its freedoms to weaken it from within.
The demonstration scheduled for Wednesday at 14:45 was able to go ahead after the Council of State suspended the mayor’s decision. According to the police, some 125 people were present.
