French report claims organisers lied to secure venue
A couple of days ago I noted a “summit” which was supposed to take place in Strasbourg today; according to the conference blurb:
The human rights organizations Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) will hold their first-ever transatlantic summit in Strasbourg, France, on July 2.
…The confirmed list of speakers at the summit includes Pamela Geller, the popular blogger and columnist who publishes the acclaimed AtlasShrugs.com blog… Robert Spencer, a bestselling author and internationally renowned Islamic expert; the noted activist SIOE Director Anders Gravers; Roberta Moore of the Jewish Division — EDL; Conny Meier of the German human rights group Pax Europa; frontrunning Bulgarian presidential candidate Pavel Chernev; and others to be announced soon.
That was before Moore announced her resignation from the English Defence League, and Pamela Geller came under fire for agreeing with Moore’s claim that the EDL has been “hijacked” by “Nazis” (Geller has since reaffirmed her support for the EDL, while also denouncing those who dared to criticise her).
However, potential awkwardness has been avoided, as the conference has been now cancelled. According to French news site 20 Minutes, the organisers had secured the venue, the Foyer de l’Etudiant Catholique (FEC), by claiming that they were holding a literary conference; once it was discovered that this was a lie, access was barred:
L’extrême droite a renoncé à parader samedi à Strasbourg, peut-on lire sur des blogs. Des organisations européennes et américaines appelaient à « un premier sommet transatlantique anti-islamisation ». Après une manif place de la République, un meeting était prévu en présence, notamment, de membres du mouvement Résistance républicaine et du Bloc identitaire. Prétextant une conférence littéraire, ses instigateurs avaient réservé une salle au Foyer de l’étudiant catholique. La supercherie démasquée, l’accès leur a été interdit.
According to a site called L’Islam en France, in a post dated to 26 June, the subject of the supposed “literary conference” was Danish poetry:
Les organisateurs en question avançaient masqués, prétendant qu’il s’agissait d’une soirée consacrée à la poésie danoise!
L’Islam en France also claims that FEC cancelled the booking six hours afterL’Islam en France had publicised the event.
20 Minutes, however, quotes Pierre Cassen, one of the scheduled speakers – according to his account, the event was cancelled because the police could not provide sufficient security. But if that were the case, surely Geller would have treated us all to a thundering denunciation of the French police by now?
UPDATE: My mistake: because the SIOA website hadn’t been updated I had assumed Geller had nothing to say on the subject. In fact, though, had I loaded up her site and waded through her tirades I would have seen a posting she’d made on the subject on 28 June, in which she claims that the conference was closed down by “the EU”. No mention of a bogus “Danish poetry” booking, though.
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