Leftist factions of the European Parliament blocked a one-minute memorial silence for Charlie Kirk, the American conservative activist shot dead on Wednesday.
As Kinga Gál, Vice President of the right-wing Patriots for Europe (PfE) group, wrote in a post on X on Thursday, conservative MEPs had wished to observe the silence during the European Parliament plenary session in memory of Kirk. ‘Left-wing groups of the European Parliament prevented this for obvious ideological reasons,’ Gál continued, concluding by denouncing their ‘height of hypocrisy’ and calling the decision shameful.
Fidesz MEP András László posted a video on X showing leftist MEPs shouting during the attempted memorial. László stated that the ‘socialist chair’ of the session would not allow them to remember Kirk, but Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers, Vice Chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), yielded his speaking time so the tribute could proceed. ‘The socialist chair deliberately started talking immediately,’ László wrote, adding that right-wing MEPs responded by tapping their desks to block the chair from continuing.
Fidesz MEP Csaba Dömötör highlighted the hypocrisy of the European Parliament in comments to Hirado.hu, contrasting the refusal with the minute of silence held after the death of George Floyd.
Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder and executive director of the conservative think tank and activist group Turning Point, was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on 10 September. He died in hospital shortly after.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán paid tribute to Kirk in a post on X, calling him a ‘true defender of faith and freedom’. While offering condolences to Kirk’s family and the American people, Orbán said his death was the ‘result of the international hate campaign waged by the progressive-liberal left.’ ‘This is what led to the attacks on Robert Fico, on Andrej Babiš, and now on Charlie Kirk. We must stop the hatred! We must stop the hate-mongering left!’ Orbán concluded.
The perpetrator remains at large at the time of writing.
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