Six members of our team were arrested and detained for nearly half a day in Paris for protesting against anti-Christian acts during the Olympics with a bus.
The vehicle was surrounded by armed police, stopped with guns, then our colleagues were unlawfully arrested, handcuffed, searched, and locked in a cell overnight.
Our bus roamed the streets of Paris all Monday with the following slogan: “Stop the attacks on Christians!”
Our spectacular campaign started at 9 AM on Monday morning in Paris, attracting much attention and praise from passersby. The bus passed by hundreds of police officers throughout the day, who initially did not object to it.
However, later, at 7 PM, our bus driver was pulled over by armed police. Shortly afterward, our team members were herded into a police car and taken to a station for “organizing a demonstration without the approval of the French government”!
Initially, they were told they had to go to the police station to clear things up. When they arrived, they were handcuffed. One officer laughed in their faces, remarking that they were likely misled by a colleague regarding the quick resolution of the procedure and that if they did not cooperate, they would be held for 24 hours.
The absurdity of the situation was that no law was broken. We always check all regulations before large street demonstrations and parades. French laws are clear that a single vehicle with a slogan cannot be considered a demonstration.
What followed was astounding…
Our friends were treated humiliatingly, placed in cells with criminals, deprived of contact with the outside world – their phones were confiscated, and they were held in windowless cells for 12 hours, where the temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius! During this time, they were not given water or food. They were humiliated, forced to strip naked “for drug checks.”
They were denied basic rights, including access to personal lawyers and communication with family members.
“They tried to break us and test our limits. They literally laughed in our faces! I was denied a glass of water. And in the 12 hours, they only let me go to the bathroom once,” recalled one of our detained team members.
Despite there being no legal basis for their detention, thanks to the efforts of CitizenGO’s lawyer, they were only released after 4 AM. But their nightmare was not over.
Those who had not been interrogated by the police were summoned back to the station for further questioning on Tuesday afternoon before the prosecutor made the decision we had long known – there was no basis for the arrest!
If this isn’t political or ideological persecution, then what is?
I emphasize that our bus was driving around the streets of Paris from 9 AM without incident, attracting significant attention and support from passersby and Olympic visitors. Therefore, the political elite, fearing damage to France’s international reputation, resorted to authoritarian censorship.
“It is impossible to establish a crime for failing to report a demonstration because a single vehicle cannot be considered a demonstration. The prosecution stretched the law to its limits to stop the bus and restrict their freedom of speech. Moreover, the procedure was irregular,” emphasized CitizenGO’s lawyer.
Ironically, our bus, which proved so offensive to the French police and authorities, ended up parked in front of the police station in the 16th arrondissement of central Paris, just three blocks from the Arc de Triomphe, visible to everyone.
Thus, in the end, the French police advertised what they tried to censor!
Our message proved so undesirable that after our team was released, the police demanded we remove it from the bus. Naturally, we refused the demand, knowing our message was not illegal.
So the bus was finally escorted out of the city by three police motorcycles. You can watch the video of this here.
The good news is that the entire team is now safe and on their way home.
We will not let the authorities get away with this. We plan to sue President Macron and the French political elite, who are evidently responsible for our arrest and the police actions. This cannot be repeated!
This is ideological and political persecution. We will not let our voices be silenced. We will continue to defend Christian values in the public space because if we don’t, who will? We must show that we cannot be intimidated.
We live in terrible times – an age of censorship where the truth no longer matters, and anyone who thinks differently can easily be imprisoned and silenced.
We are relieved to know that our colleagues are safe. We thank them for their brave stand and wish them a well-deserved rest in the coming days.
Please sign our petition against anti-Christian acts, the voice of which the French authorities tried to silence so drastically:
Translated and edited by Evan Right
