Swiss police blocked a far-right Austrian political activist from delivering a speech at an event on Saturday. Martin Sellner, the leader of the nationalist Identitarian Movement of Austria, was invited by a far-right Swiss group called “Junge Tat” to deliver a speech in the Swiss canton of Aargau but was issued an entry ban by the Aargau police, preventing him from speaking.

In a video published on X (formerly known as Twitter), Sellner stated the event consisted of a discussion that was “entirely private,” focusing on illegal immigration. Moreover, he called his entry ban from Aargau “political”.

While Sellner had already received a notification from the Aargau police that he was not allowed to enter the canton, he published a video on “X” entering Switzerland by boat, saying this was the “safest route”.

After being removed from the event and taken to the police station, Martin Sellner was notified that he was banned from entering Aargau for two months. In a statement made by the police, the reasoning behind the interruption of the meeting was to ensure public safety and to avoid clashes with the opposing party there.

Martin Sellner has sparked controversy before when, in November 2023, he introduced a plan that was reported by investigative outlet Correctiv to representatives of the far-right German political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), among others, to deport foreigners and Germans of foreign origin to a “model city” in North Africa. His movement has sometimes been in the center of attention in Austria for anti-immigration and nationalist rallies. In the past, the movement has spread the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which refers to an alleged plot to replace ethnic European populations with non-European immigrants.