DUBAI: Members of the Qatari opposition are speaking publically for the first time at an event debating the situation in Qatar.
Shrouded in secrecy amid concerns over interference by the Qatari government and its supporters, the Qatar, Global Security and Stability Conference has also attracted a line-up of world renowned speakers, including the former US Ambassador to the UN, and an ex-British Cabinet Minister.
Security was tight at the event, held at a hotel in the east of the capital, with sniffer dogs prowling the site before it opened. They will be joined by members of the Qatari opposition – exiled Qataris pressing for reform in the country who have never spoken previously in public.
The conference will focus on five main topics: Political Islam and terrorist groups; Qatar and Iran’s Foreign Policy, a source of regional instability; Democracy, human rights and a quest for global prestige; Al Jazeera – free press or voice of terror; and Qatar’s economic and geopolitical influence.
The event’s organizer Khalid Al-Hail, spokesman for the Qatar National Democratic Party, which earlier told Arab News that he “feared for his life” because of perceived threats over his opposition stance.
The conference comes as the diplomatic crisis between the Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) and Qatar enters its fourth month.
The ATQ was formed in June by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, the four nations that initially severed ties with Qatar in June amid allegations that it supported terror.
Attending this week’s event are a number of senior politicians including Britain’s Lord Paddy Ashdown, former US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson, former British Prime Minister Iain Duncan Smith, and other prominent commentators.
Al-Hail said ahead of the event: “The support we have received from some of the most respected and high-profile commentators on the Middle East, World Affairs and the media demonstrates the level of concern there is inside and outside Qatar about the current direction of the leadership of the country.”
Qatar opposition event starts in London amid high security
Qatar opposition event starts in London amid high security
French minister pledges tight security at rally for killed activist
- Deranque’s death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year
- Macron has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence“
LYON: French police will be out in force at a weekend rally for a slain far-right activist, the interior minister said Friday, as the country seeks to contain anger over the fatal beating blamed on the hard left.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a protest against a politician from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party in the southeastern city of Lyon last week.
His death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is serving his last year in office, has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence,” and urged the far right and hard left to clean up their act.
Deranque’s supporters have called for a march in his memory on Saturday in Lyon.
The Greens mayor of Lyon asked the state to ban it, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declined to do so.
Nunez said he had planned an “extremely large police deployment” with reinforcements from outside the city to ensure security at the rally expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, and likely to see counter-protesters from the hard left show up.
“I can only ban a demonstration when there are major risks of public disorder and I am not in a position to contain them,” he told the RTL broadcaster.
“My role is to strike a balance between maintaining public order and freedom of expression.”
- ‘Fascist demonstration’ -
Jordan Bardella, the president of anti-immigration RN, has urged party members not to go.
“We ask you, except in very specific and strictly supervised local situations (a tribute organized by a municipality, for example), not to attend these gatherings nor to associate the National Rally with them,” he wrote in a message sent to party officials and seen by AFP.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard backed the mayor’s call for a ban, warning on X it would be a “fascist demonstration” that “over 1,000 neo-Nazis from all over Europe” were expected to attend.
Two people, aged 20 and 25, have been charged with intentional homicide in relation to the fatal beating, according to the Lyon prosecutor and their lawyers.
A third suspect has been charged with complicity in the killing.
Jacques-Elie Favrot, a 25-year-old former parliamentary assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, has admitted to having been present at the scene but denied delivering the blows that killed Deranque, his attorney said.
Favrot said “it was absolutely not an ambush, but a clash with a group of far-right activists,” he added.
Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
Referring to her comments, Macron said everyone should “stay in their own lane,” but Meloni later said that Macron had misinterpreted her comments.
Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the presidency in 2027, when Macron will have to step down after the maximum two consecutive terms in office.
