Mayor bans far-right rally in Brussels quarter linked to extremism

A Belgian mayor has banned Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders and Belgian anti-immigrant politician Filip Dewinter from holding a rally in Molenbeek, a Muslim-majority neighbourhood in Brussels that has been linked to extremism. Mayor Francoise Schepmans said on Thursday that the two men had described their planned visit to Molenbeek on Friday as an “Islam Safari” in the “Jihadi capital of Europe.” She said the rally, planned for just after Friday’s Muslim prayers, cannot take place “to avoid any predictable threat to order and public peace,” AP reports.