Activists arrested in Brussels for caring for enemy children
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Conservative activists warned of threats to free speech In Europe After they were arrested Thursday in Brussels, Belgium as they hold signs of opposition to transgender medical treatment for children.
Chris Elston,Billboard Chris“And Lois McClatchy Miller, Senior Legal Communications Officer at Alliance Defending Freedom International, spoke to Fox News Digital after they were released hours after being harassed by the crowd and taken to police custody.
Elston is well known for wearing signs denounced transgender health care for children in public places, and stood out on the streets of the Belgian capital alongside McClatchy Miller. Both wore signs with the messages “Children are never born in the wrong body” and “Children cannot agree to adolescent blockers.”
Elston travels the world to spread his message. But in Brussels, it was pretty much the opposite.
“Billboard Chris” Elston traveled around the world discussing the safety and ethics of prescribing adolescent blockers for children with gender discomfort. (Getty)
“It was almost unstoppable abuse and harassment,” Elston said. Fox News Digital. “It quickly became clear that this was probably the most awakened city I’ve done in my five-year campaign and nothing else was approaching.”
“We had the guy throw a glass bottle and it landed behind me, but it landed in front of a five-year-old girl walking with her father and smashed the ground.
A man constantly harassed McClatchy Miller, the pair I was called the police For protection. Instead, they were told that if they had not removed their signs they would be arrested. They then were detained, strip searched, signs confiscated before the signs were confiscated and released three hours later without formal charge, Elston said.
“They put us in handcuffs and everything, but they let us go and it seems they wanted to kick us out rather than just dealing with the angry, unruly mob,” he added.
Activists were in Brussels this week to share their message and discuss policy issues with members of the European Parliament.
ADF International’s Lois Mclatchie Miller and Chris Elston, known as “Billboard Chris,” were detained and stripped searched in Brussels, after they held signs against transgender medical treatment for their children. (Billboard Chris/YouTube)
Free speech advocates praise Trump administrators for talking about global censorship
McLatchie Miller, who works for Alliance Defending Freedom International, a faith-based legal organisation, said it’s surprising that she is being detained herself when she is normally fighting for an ADF client whose speeches are silent by local governments.
“I don’t think we’re ready to expect this level of hostility here in Brussels, but if we can make it clear that we need to make public about the need to protect freedom of expression in Europe,” she told Fox News Digital.
Vice President JD Vance recently issued a warning that freedom of speech is under threat in Europe.
In a speech in Munich in February, he filed a case in which he was arrested, quietly prayed in the abortion buffer zone, and was accused of being arrested and accused of being shared with the US and retreating from some of the fundamental values that adopted “Soviet Era” censorship.
McLatchie Miller said her arrest “really represents the freedom of speech crisis that Europe is facing right now.”
VP JD Vance raised concerns about the free speech that is under threat in Europe during his speech with European leaders. (Fox & Friends Weekend)
Vance is right about freedom of speech. That’s what makes the EU and our leftists so angry
“Vance pointed out this in a Munich speech a few months ago, and many people in Europe laughed at him and said this wasn’t true,” she continued. “But, in the cases after the case, many times, I’ve seen this attack on freedom of speech unfold.”
“Chris and I shared a very peaceful message, a very important message, so it is necessary to have love and affirmation that children were never born in the wrong body and do not need drugs or females to correct themselves. An opinion shared by many people in Europe.
“If freedom of speech is inaccessible in your homeland of Europe, the homeland of democracy here in Europe, it’s not accessible anywhere and actually raising the alarm bell,” she said.
Brussels police did not immediately return a request for comment.
Their arrest comes when Elston believes there is a growing movement around the world of their questions and criticism Children’s transition.
Several European countries, including Finland, Denmark and the UK, have restricted or banned adolescent blockers for children experiencing gender discomfort. (Angelawice/AFP via Getty Images)
“We’re making great strides all over the world,” he said.
He cited European countries like Finland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. I’m disappointed now Give adolescent blockers to children experiencing gender discomfort.
“The truth is spreading,” he added.
Elston says he will talk to people on both sides of the aisle who share concerns about the children’s transition, and believes that it is one major issue that shook voters from Democrats in the 2024 election.
“This was the number one issue in the US election, when swing voters began voting for President Donald Trump,” he argued. “It wasn’t the economy, it wasn’t the immigrants, it was the insanity of transgender people, and even in these Democrat states, many of those voters were I’m tired from illness Of this. ”
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Gabriel Hays of Fox News contributed to this report.