Uproar as EU Parliament refuses tribute to US activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Lawmakers on the European far right wanted the EU Parliament to observe a silent tribute to Mr Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept 10.
PHOTO: AFP
STRASBOURG, France - Rowdy scenes erupted on Sept 11 as the European Parliament refused a far-right request for a minute of silence to honour slain US activist and President Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk.
Lawmakers on the European far right, which maintains close ties to Mr Trump’s White House, wanted the EU Parliament, like the US Congress, to observe a silent tribute to the 31-year-old.
“Our right to freedom of speech cannot be extinguished,” Mr Charlie Weimers, of the Sweden Democrats, wrote to Speaker Roberta Metsola in requesting the gesture.
But when Mr Weimers tried to observe the tribute by yielding his speaking time on the floor, he was cut short by the session chair, who reminded him the request had been denied for procedural reasons.
Lawmakers from his party erupted in protest by banging on their desks, while the rest of the hemicycle applauded the chair’s intervention.
Questioned by AFP, Mr Weimers accused the European Parliament of “bias”.
He pointed to the contrast with the tribute observed in 2020 for George Floyd, whose murder by a US police officer triggered global protests.
Italy’s hard-right Northern League likewise attacked Parliament’s decision as “politically shameful and morally unacceptable”.
“Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die,” the centrist French lawmaker Nathalie Loiseau posted on X in response.
“Whether he deserves to be honoured by our Parliament is a another story,” she said, linking to past social media posts by Mr Kirk assailing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Kirk, a podcast-radio commentator and an influential ally of Mr Trump, was killed on Sept 10 with a single gunshot, as he fielded questions about gun violence during a university appearance.
He is credited with helping build the Republican president’s base among younger voters.
His conservative ideology was closely aligned with that of Mr Trump: He backed the US President’s false claims of fraud when he lost the 2020 presidential election and used his heavyweight influence to lash out at migrants and transgender people.
Questioned on the incident, the European Commission said only that it “condemns all forms of violence, and we offer our sincere sympathies to the families of the victims”. AFP, REUTERS
