The Free Speech Union will hold a public event in Belfast on Wednesday evening at the Clayton Hotel on Ormeau Avenue.

The event starts at 7.30pm and will feature panel discussions on free speech, sectarianism, divided societies and multicultural governance.

Ben Jones, a director of the group, will take part alongside columnist Ruth Dudley-Edwards and writer Jenny Holland.

The Free Speech Union has criticised the PSNI for continuing to record non-crime hate incidents, unlike some police forces in Great Britain.

The group has also opposed efforts to create a legal definition of anti-Muslim hostility and has supported anti-abortion protest rights.

Lord Toby Young, who leads the Free Speech Union, recently defended a DUP councillor suspended for comments at a council meeting in Ards and North Down.

The News Letter editor Ben Lowry serves on the Northern Ireland advisory council to the Free Speech Union, along with Baroness Kate Hoey and Jeff Dudgeon.