The Mayor of Watermael-Boitsfort, David Leisterh has prohibited a public dinner-meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening with Florian Philippot, leader of the French far-right party Les Patriotes.
The event, set for 7 p.m. at the sports park of Trois Tilleuls. had been expected to host around 150 attendees, according to information received by the municipality at 5 p.m. on the same day.
“I informed the organisers that I forbade the event due to the risk of public order disturbances. The event was not authorised, and the venue was too small for the number of expected guests,” said Leisterh, who heads the Francophone liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR).
While the dinner was cancelled, Philippot, a former deputy to Marine Le Pen and known for his eurosceptic stance, remained on-site to converse with several individuals who had been turned away.
Philippot expressed his outrage in a video, stating: “We’re in the country of surrealism. They’ve blocked us because this is the city of NATO and the European Union, institutions my party opposes. This is emblematic of our descent into dictatorship.”
A participant told Belga he had attended to “discuss Florian Philippot’s ideas” and did not understand “what the issue was.” He noted that Philippot was not even an elected official in France and emphasised that the gathering was intended to be a peaceful exchange.
Individuals reportedly came from cities such as Liège, Charleroi, and Ciney for the meeting.
According to the same attendee, about 10 police officers were present to prevent access to the venue.
