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Conservative activists warned about the threat to free speech in Europe after they were arrested in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday for holding signs opposing transgender medical treatments for children.
Chris Elston, better known as “Billboard Chris,” and Alliance Defending Freedom International senior legal communications officer Lois McLatchie Miller spoke to Fox News Digital after they were released, hours after being harassed by a crowd and taken into police custody.
Elston, well known for wearing billboards decrying transgender medical care for children out in public, stood out in the streets of the Belgian capital alongside McLatchie Miller. Both wore billboards with the messages, “Children are never born in the wrong body” and “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”
Elston travels the world to spread his message, which he says mostly receives positive feedback. But in Brussels, it was mostly opposition.
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“It was pretty much non-stop abuse and harassment,” Elston told Fox News Digital. “It quickly became apparent that this is probably the most woke city I have been to in my five years of campaigning, and nothing else comes close.”
“We had a man throw a glass bottle at us. It landed behind me, but right in front of a five-year-old girl who was walking with her dad, smashed on the ground. People were telling me I needed to get out of there because Antifa was going to come, and no matter where we walked in the city, we were getting a lot of grief,” he added.
After one man continually harassed McLatchie Miller, the pair called the police for protection. Instead, they were told if they didn’t remove their signs, they would be arrested. They were then detained, strip-searched and had their signs confiscated, before they were released three hours later with no formal charge, Elston said.
“They put us in handcuffs and everything, but they just let us go, and it seems they just wanted to get rid of us instead of dealing with the angry, unruly mob,” he added.
The activists were in Brussels this week to share their message and discuss policy issues with members of the European Parliament.
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McLatchie Miller, who works for the faith-based legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom International, said it was surprising to find herself detained, when she is usually fighting for ADF clients whose speech has been silenced by local authorities.
“I don’t think we were quite prepared to expect this level of hostility here in Brussels, but hopefully it exposes some things that need to be exposed about the need to protect freedom of expression in Europe,” she told Fox News Digital.
Vice President JD Vance recently sounded the alarm about free speech being under threat in Europe.
In a speech in Munich in February, he raised the case of a British army veteran who was arrested and charged for silently praying in an abortion buffer zone to warn that Europe appeared to be retreating from some of its fundamental values it shares with the U.S. and adopting “Soviet-era” censorship.
McLatchie Miller said her arrest “really represents the free speech crisis that Europe is facing right now.”
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“Vance pointed this out in his Munich speech just a few months ago, and many people in Europe laughed at him and said that this wasn’t true,” she continued. “But case after case, time after time, we’re seeing this assault on free speech unfold.”
“As Chris and I were just there sharing a very peaceful message, a very important message, that no child has ever been born in the wrong body, and they do not need drugs and scalpels to fix themselves, they need love and affirmation. It’s an opinion that’s shared by many people across Europe, and yet the authorities came and shut down that conversation in the streets of this capital city, this heart of the European Union.”
“If free speech is not accessible here in Europe’s alleged home of democracy, then it’s not accessible anywhere, and it really does raise an alarm bell,” she said.
Brussels police did not immediately return a request for comment.
Their arrest comes at a time when Elston believes there is a growing movement across the globe of those questioning or criticizing transitioning children.
“We’re making tremendous progress all across the globe,” he said.
He cited European countries like Finland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom which now discourage giving puberty blockers to children experiencing gender dysphoria.
“The truth is spreading,” he added.
Elston said he speaks to people on both sides of the aisle who share his concerns about transitioning children, and he believes it was one major issue that swung voters away from the Democratic Party in the 2024 election.
“This was the number one issue in the U.S. election that caused swing voters to vote for President Donald Trump,” he argued. “It wasn’t the economy, it wasn’t immigration, it was transgender insanity. And even in these Democrat states, a lot of those voters are sick and tired of this.”
Fox News’ Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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