Chris Elston, aka Billboard Chris, who advocated for child protection against “gender ideology”, has been arrested in the centre of Brussels for not removing a sign he was carrying to encourage discussion of transgenderism.
Lois McLatchie, from the Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), was also arrested alongside him for the same reason.
Billboard Chris and McLatchie were walking in the neighbourhood of the Brussels Bourse on June 5, wearing signs stating: “Children are never born in the wrong body”, seeking to have conversations with people about the subject.
They were faced with an angry mob of left-wing agitators, who encircled them.
Rather than going after the mob, the police instead arrested McLatchie and Billboard Chris.
Brussels Signal was able to speak with McLatchie on the phone after her release.
She said it was they who had called the police, feeling threatened by the angry mob.
A large number of officers arrived but rather than engaging with the mob, they demanded that she and Chris remove their signs, which they refused to do.
Around midday at June 6, they uploaded the full video of the events.
Total madness in Brussels.@LoisMcLatch and I were arrested and taken to jail.
No charges filed, but that didn’t stop them from stripping me down to my underwear, confiscating my signs, and locking us up.
They just wanted to get rid of us. @JDVance was right. The greatest… pic.twitter.com/oy9WLoU5aE
— Billboard Chris 🌎 (@BillboardChris) June 6, 2025
Consequently, they were arrested for allegedly causing a disturbance of the peace and were taken to a police station where they were strip-searched, according to McLatchie.
She said they were released without charge after several hours.
Their signs were confiscated and possibly destroyed by the police.
They were also not read their rights, McLatchie claimed, despite the fact that under the Salduz laws in Belgium, police were required to inform suspects of their rights. That was particularly regarding access to legal assistance, before and during interrogations.
On social media, Billboard Chris said the incident was an abuse of authority and amounted to State-sanctioned censorship, adding it was “the craziest experience I had on the street in almost five years”.
“We are not allowed to talk about the greatest child abuse scandal in modern medicine history.”
McLatchie said she could not believe that they had been seen as the “bad guys” in the situation.
In a video describing the incident, Billboard Chris said he would sue because, he claimed, it was a violation of their rights.
Brussels Signal reached out to the police in Brussels. Their press spokesman said he was assessing the situation and working on a reply, but it would only be available later today.
On June 3, Billboard Chris and McLatchie had spoken with Brussels Signal about their trip to Brussels.
They also walked around in the streets of Brussels and were received a hostile reaction. At one point, a shabby young man threw a heavy glass towards Billboard Chris, who had his back turned to him, just missing a young girl.
This guy threw a glass bottle at us today. He missed and it smashed right near a little 5-year-old girl.
Brussels is insane. Most woke city I’ve been to, by a mile.
To all these violent, societal failures: Bring it. I don’t care. You picked the wrong guy to motivate. pic.twitter.com/7eVyiFtchQ
— Billboard Chris 🌎 (@BillboardChris) June 3, 2025
Billboard Chris and McLatchie were in the EU capital to discuss the dangers of puberty blockers with Members of the European Parliament.
The case caught the attention of the US State Department that, according to US media outlet The Daily Wire, stated it was “looking into the matter.” A spokesperson added: “The State Department strongly supports the peaceful freedom of expression for all.”
Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, a US-based Conservative Christian legal advocacy group, said: “The Belgian authorities not only failed to uphold the fundamental right to speak freely, they turned the power of the State against those who were peacefully exercising their rights, at the behest of a mob.
“This is the type of authoritarianism we challenge in other parts of the world, and it’s deeply disturbing to see it here in the very heart of Europe.
“While we are grateful our colleague has been safely released, we are deeply concerned by her treatment at the hands of the police in Brussels.
“We will not stand by while peaceful citizens are criminalised for speaking out on vital issues – especially when it’s the safety and wellbeing of children at stake,” Coleman added.
ADF international was also involved in legal action against a Brussels mayor last year when he allegedly tried to illegally shut down the National Conservatism Conference.
A few hours before the arrest of Billboard Chris and McLatchie, the US Embassy in Brussels had shared a tweet quoting US Vice President JD Vance saying: “European democracies are substantially less brittle than many people apparently fear and allowing all your citizens to speak their mind will make them stronger still.”
The organisers behind the #NatConBrussels2 conference have won their appeal in court against local mayor Emir Kir enabling the event to continue into its second day. https://t.co/QWrrXiWdT7
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) April 17, 2024
