Photo: Vigilance Cordon Sanitaire on Facebook, 9 April 2025
Far-left activists in Brussels have continued their intimidation campaign against the conservative think tank MCC Brussels. The campaign aims to force conference venues around the European capital to close their doors to one of the very few right-wing organizations that speak out on behalf of the already limited freedom of speech and plurality in the EU.
This time, the Antifa activists targeted the Stanhope Hotel, the venue of MCC Brussels’ upcoming event about how President Trump has been reshaping the global order. The event is planned for Wednesday, May 14th, and includes as speakers an associate professor from Cambridge and the chair of the Edmund Burke foundation, as well as a former undersecretary in the Italian foreign ministry.
Typical Nazis, right? Well, the Antifa certainly thinks so, as the vandals covered the hotel’s entrance with eggs and graffiti on Tuesday morning, just one day before the event, in what they regard as protesting the ‘extreme right.’
But as MCC Brussels made it clear, this “pathetic act of cowardice” was not a protest, but a threat. “A warning shot to anyone—left, right, or center—who dares to challenge the militant orthodoxy of these self-appointed arbiters of acceptable thought,” whose actions “reek of the very fascism they claim to oppose.”
Nonetheless, the think tank vows to never give in to these “authoritarian tactics,” and announced that the conference will go on as planned at an alternative venue that hasn’t been made public yet.
🚨 Attempted cancellation of our event
— MCC Brussels (@MCC_Brussels) May 13, 2025
🚨MCC Brussels condemns cowardly attack on free speech
🚨We will not be silenced by these fake anti-fascists
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Stanhope Hotel in Brussels was vandalized with eggs thrown by a group styling… pic.twitter.com/rv0jwuux3f
It’s worth noting that this incident is not an isolated case. MCC Brussels has been targeted by Antifa countless times in the past few years, as the far-left attempted to shut down the think tank’s panel discussions, book launches, and even NatCon Brussels, Europe’s largest and most prestigious conservative conference.
Last month, a Belgian Antifa group took the intimidation up a notch and vandalized every single conference venue that ever hosted the think tank with the same message plastered across its walls: “Here we welcome the far-right #MCC.” As a result, several of the venues signaled that they will have to increase their prices going forward, as an ‘insurance’ against future damages.
According to MCC Brussels, the growing number of incidents shows that Europe is entering a dangerous era “where reasoned debate is drowned out by shrieks of intolerance and intimidation.” If this remains unchallenged—as it seems to be in Brussels, where the authorities wouldn’t move a finger to deter the extreme left and protect the freedom of expression—“tomorrow they will come for anyone who deviates even slightly from their rigid worldview.”
MCC Brussels set up shop in the city less than three years ago, yet it has already grown into one of the primary hubs of open dialogue, dissenting ideas, and democratic debate. It’s also one of the few platforms for conservatives, who are often silenced and sidelined by EU institutions despite representing the biggest parties in the respective countries.
As the think tank grows increasingly popular in the Brussels bubble—with a record number of people attending their events and reading their bombshell reports exposing the EU’s corruption and anti-democratic practices—so does the target on its back.
“And that is precisely why we will not retreat,” MCC Brussels’ statement reads, calling on EU institutions and all those who regard themselves as “defenders of democracy” across the political spectrum to condemn these acts of political violence and intimidation.
“Free societies are not built by silencing dissent—they are built by debating it, confronting it, and allowing the people to decide,” MCC Brussels added.
For those in Brussels who want to support open, democratic discourse and are interested in an expert analysis of Trumpian geopolitics, registration for Wednesday’s panel discussion is still open here.