Swiss police stop far-right Austrian politician speaking at event

ZURICH: A far-right Austrian politician was stopped by the police from speaking at an event in the Swiss canton of Aargau on Sunday after the organisers didn’t comply with a police request for the event to be cancelled.

Martin Sellner, leader of the Identitarian Movement - classified in 2019 by Germany’s domestic intelligence service as an extreme right-wing group in a sign of official concern about radicals with anti-Islamic and racist views - had travelled to Tegerfelden to present at the event organized by a Swiss group called “Junge Tat” (Young Deed).

Sellner had planned to speak on “remigration”, a concept whereby 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 they had shut down the event after organises failed to comply with a 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.