Thursday night's demonstration in Brussels to commemorate French student Quentin Deranque, 23, killed on the fringes of a far-right protest in Lyon, has been cancelled by its organisers.
Just hours before it was due to take place, organisers from the Flemish extreme-right and ethnonationalist group Voorpost announced on social media that the demonstration would not go ahead.
They had called for a mobilisation at Place Surlet Chokier, near the Vlaams Belang headquarters in Brussels, to condemn the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque.
Organisers Voorpost, who have a past as an extreme right paramilitary organisation with antisemitic ties, say they will "not be intimidated."
"The commemoration will take place at another time and via internal communication. We expressly call on everyone not to come to Place Surlet de Chokier in Brussels tonight," the statement read.
The far-right has mobilised over Deranque, who was killed in Lyon after being attacked by six masked individuals following a violent confrontation between far-right and antifascist groups.
Initial reporting also states that Deranque and several others were being pursued by a crowd of what were called "anti-fascist activists" in the press, but newly-published footage of a prior confrontation appears to show that groups of young men from both sides showed up prepared for violence.
While the French Government has singled out far-left groups, Lyon prosecutor Dran has declined to comment on those claims – only specifying the incident was being investigated as voluntary manslaughter.
Illustration pictures shows a prohibitory sign and fence at the zebra crossing at the Brussels Place de Surlet de Chokier, near Madou, Thursday 28 August 2014. Credit: Belga
Earlier on Thursday, the Brussels Anti-Fascist Front had called its counter-demonstration a "democratic mobilisation" over the failure of the cordon sanitaire".
They criticised the French media for having directly relayed the version of events put forward by far-right groups.
It reiterated that "violence is the driving force behind the far-right" and that the cordon sanitaire around the far-right is a democratic must, particularly when dealing with the organisers.
"Voorpost is not just a small far-right group nostalgic for collaboration; it engages in street violence with very real consequences, whether by attacking asylum seekers' reception centres, racialised people or our marches."
