ZURICH (Reuters) – A far-right Austrian politician was prevented by the police from giving a speech at an event in the Swiss canton of Aargau on Saturday because the organizers did not comply with a police request to cancel the event.
Martin Sellner, the leader of the Identitarian Movement, which was classified as an extreme right-wing group by Germany’s domestic intelligence service in 2019 due to concerns about radicals with anti-Islamic and racist views, had traveled to Tegerfelden to speak at the event organized by a Swiss group called “Junge Tat” (Young Deed).
Sellner intended to discuss the concept of “remigration,” which involves the idea that some immigrants could be forced to leave, even if they have citizenship.
“The police in the Kanton of Aargau, Switzerland stormed a speech, turned off the electricity, handcuffed me and performed a push back,” Sellner wrote on social media platform X. “I am not allowed to enter Aargau for 2 months.”
Aargau police confirmed that they had shut down the event after the organizers failed to comply with the request to do so.
“To ensure public safety and prevent confrontations with people from the opposing side, the speaker at the event was stopped and ordered to leave the cantonal territory,” Aargau police said in a statement.
(Reporting by Noele Illien; Editing by David Holmes)
