So, in what cases can we ban holding an event? First of all, it is important to distinguish between the concept of a private or public event.
There is no legal definition for it. But, François Tuulkens, master lecturer in constitutional law at UCLouvain Saint-Louis, defines it as follows: “A public meeting is one that is accessible to everyone who wants it. It does not matter whether it is in a closed, private or public place. It doesn’t matter whether it’s free or paid. invitation or not,
A mayor is not, a priori, able to prohibit a private meeting
On the contrary, there is a private meeting “a limited access meeting“, separates François Tuulkens.”Only people who have been personally called and invited by the organizers, the person in charge of the venue, can participate.“, he explains.
In such a situation, ban is not possible. ,A mayor is not, a priori, able to prohibit a private meeting in a closed private room. A political party convention is held behind closed doors, open only to personally invited activists.“, explains François Tuelkens.
If the incident threatens public order, then, “We have to organize ourselves to allow this meeting to be held, and so that the opponents can also demonstrate in their favor“, he adds.
Simply, the municipality can plan the deployment of police near the event to guarantee security and take action if necessary. Fine can also be imposed for making noise at night.
,Sometimes a request is made to an authority to hold a demonstration, which must be granted by the authority unless there is a reason to prohibit it.“, confirms François Tuulkens.”But this is obviously rare, because it really is an attack on freedom.“, he adds.
Obviously we should not stop all forms of expression on this pretext.
François Tuelkens says: “Municipal sanctions have already been imposed a number of times for demonstrations that will go bad or that we have reason to believe will go bad because of their purpose or because of the reactions they provoke. But obviously we should not use this excuse to stifle all expression.,
Here too, generally, we organize ourselves: “Rather there is case law that says public authorities must allow meetings to be held even if protests occur and organize themselves so that both can take place in separate, distant locations, with police measures in place, or not.,
This is why preventive restrictions on gatherings are quite extraordinary. ,If we really find that there are better, compelling reasons that justify it, we can ban it. But this is under the control of a judge, because the person who is deprived of the right to demonstrate will be able to go to the judge and say that the reasons given are, in his opinion, not acceptable or legally acceptable.“, warns the expert.
Despite everything, sanctions are already in place. In 2014, an anti-Semitic congress, which was supposed to bring together controversial comedian Dieudonné, essayist Alain Soral and former deputy Laurent Louis, was banned in Brussels. The mayor justified his decision because of the significant risks to safety, security and public peace associated with the organization of the Congress. This time, the Council of State confirmed the order of the municipality of Anderlecht.
What about limits to freedom of expression?
The ban on the nationalist event in Saint-José led to a reaction from Alexandre de Croix, who spoke of freedom of expression: “Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy, but can never override the Belgian Constitution, which has guaranteed freedom of expression and peaceful assembly since 1830.,
Should we conclude that any kind of organizing can be organized under the guise of freedom of expression?
It should be remembered that limits to freedom of expression exist in Belgium. UNIA has made a list of 4 during an event like a demonstration.
- Deliberately and for a specific reason inciting discrimination, hatred, violence or alienation against others in a public place
- spreading ideas based on racial superiority or hatred
- Be part of a group or association that clearly and repeatedly advocates discrimination or segregation
- holocaust denial
So can the invitation of a personality who has given such a speech in the past be an argument for banning the event? ,yes of course. If we have reason to believe that negative, racist or other comments will be made“, answers François Tuelkens.
But it is far from simple: “We still need real proof of this. We should not guess about this in advance. (…) It is very complicated to ban this, unless you have a solid record in this area“, continue the expert.
Generally, illegal comments are evaluated after they are made. ,We will not see every comment made. Otherwise, we will not be able to have freedom of expression“, the keynote speaker concluded.