Feminist group protests Vox's European Parliament conference

A feminist group showed the message “Our rights are non-negotiable” in the European Parliament today ahead of a conference organized by the far-right political party Vox.

The group, comprising of workers at EU institutions who told reporters after they left the chamber that they rejected Vox’s principles, held up signs for a few minutes at the beginning of the event, without the conference being interrupted.

“Europe has to be a place where everybody has their rights, we are feminists and we defend the rights of LGBTI people,” one of the protesters, who wished to remain anonymous, told the media.

They also explained that they decided to carry out this protest as they were “outraged” by European Parliament president Antonio Tajani permitted this Vox discussion to take place. The event deals with the current political situation and tensions in Catalonia, and was participated by Javier Ortega, the secretary general of the far-right party.

Tajani’s decision to allow this forum to take place in the European chamber came just a couple of weeks after he banned a conference in which president of Catalonia Quim Torra and his predecessor Carles Puigdemont were due to speak on the Catalan question.

That congress, which was organized by MEPs Ralph Packet and Ivo Vajgl, was banned due to alleged "security threats."