Two protestors arrested in Brussels, Belgium for conducting street interviews about the dangers of puberty blockers on minors sent a demand letter to the city and chief of police seeking compensation for their arrest.
Chris Elston, a U.K. activist known as “Billboard Chris,” and Lois McLatchie Miller, a Canadian employed at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, were interviewing pedestrians on June 5. The conversations centered on the dangers of gender ideology and “sex-change” procedures on minors. The signs they held read, “Children are never born in the wrong body” and “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”
Their presence drew an aggressive crowd. With hostile men harassing them, the activists called the police. However, the police instead arrested Elston and Miller, who were then detained for several hours. Their signs were taken and destroyed.
Backed by ADF International and Belgian lawyers, Elston and Miller issued a demand letter to the Brussels chief of police, the ombudsman, the city, the police inspectorate and the state. Arguing that their freedom of expression and physical integrity were violated under Belgian and international human rights law, the letter requests compensation, an official acknowledgement they had violated their rights, an investigation and assurance that corrective actions will be employed.
“Belgian authorities not only failed to uphold the fundamental right to speak freely, they turned the power of the state against two individuals who were peacefully exercising their rights at the behest of increasingly aggressive bystanders,” said Dr. Felix Böllmann, director of European Advocacy for ADF International.
Elston, who regularly protests against gender transitions on minors across Europe and North America, says he speaks against “the deliberate damaging of children’s bodies for an ideology which teaches they were born in the wrong body” and is one of the “most significant medical human rights scandals of our day.”
“Puberty blockers, and the cross-sex hormones that so often follow them, are highly dangerous drugs that can cause long-lasting damage to children—impacting their bodily development, bone density, mental health, lifelong fertility, and more,” explained Miller. “It is scandalous to expose children to these drugs, and it is scandalous to silence and jail those who speak out about it. No one should fear arrest for defending children’s safety.”
