Dustup as EU Parliament refuses tribute to Charlie Kirk

STRASBOURG, France (AFP) — Rowdy scenes erupted Thursday as the European Parliament refused a far-right request for a minute of silence to honor slain U.S. activist and President Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk.

Lawmakers on the European far right, which maintains close ties to Trump’s White House, wanted the EU Parliament, like the U.S. Congress, to observe a silent tribute to the 31-year-old.

“Our right to freedom of speech cannot be extinguished,” Charlie Weimers of the Sweden Democrats wrote to Speaker Roberta Metsola in requesting the gesture.

But when 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, 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 U.S. 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 honored by our parliament is a another story,” she said, linking to past social media posts by Kirk assailing Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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.”

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By Agence France-Presse