Several were forced to strip naked for "drug testing".
Six members of the international conservative activist group CitizenGO were detained and held for almost half a day in Paris for, as they wrote, protesting against the anti-Christian acts at the Olympics by bus. They reported that the vehicle was surrounded by police, who stopped it at gunpoint and then "unlawfully arrested, handcuffed, motorcycled, and locked them in a cell for the night . The bus also passed hundreds of policemen during the day on Monday, who did not object to it at that time.
The bus had the following slogan:
"Stop the attacks on Christians!".
The campaign started at 9:00 a.m. that day in the French capital, where many passers-by praised the action, then at 7:00 p.m. the bus driver was stopped by the police. Not long after, the members of the activist team were herded into a police car and taken to a station for "organizing a demonstration without the approval of the French government" . They were initially told to go to the police to clear up the situation.
When they arrived, they were handcuffed. According to the report of the organization, one of the policemen laughed in their faces and remarked that they were probably deceived by a colleague about the quick course of the procedure, and that if they did not cooperate, they would be detained for 24 hours.
According to the group, the absurdity of what happened was that there was no violation of the law. They always check all regulations before large street demonstrations and marches. And the French legislation is clear: a single vehicle with a sign cannot be considered a demonstration.
The activists' phones were confiscated and they were kept in windowless cells for 12 hours, where the temperature exceeded 35 degrees. During this time, they were given neither water nor food. After that, they were forced to strip naked for a "drug test". During the proceedings, they were denied basic rights, such as contact with lawyers and communication with family members.
“They tried to break us and test where our limits are. They literally laughed in our faces! They refused me even a glass of water. And they only let me go to the bathroom once during the 12 hours"
- recalls one of them.
Despite the fact that there was no legal basis for their detention, they were released only after 4:00 a.m., thanks to the efforts of CitizenGO's lawyer. But their story did not end there. Those who had not been questioned by the police until then were ordered back to the station for further questioning on Tuesday afternoon, before the prosecutor announced that there was no basis for the arrest.
"It is impossible to establish a crime related to the failure to announce the demonstration, since the presence of a single vehicle does not constitute a demonstration. The prosecution pushed the law to the extreme to stop the bus and limit their freedom of speech. Moreover, the procedure was irregular"
- emphasized the lawyer of CitizenGO. Ironically, however, the bus that proved so offensive to the French police and authorities ended up parked in front of the 16th arrondissement police station in downtown Paris, just three blocks away from the Arc de Triomphe for all to see. So in the end, the French police ended up promoting what they were trying to censor.
After the team was released, the police demanded that the sign be removed from the bus, a request they refused, knowing that their message was not illegal at all. So the bus was finally expelled from the city accompanied by three police motorbikes.
"We live in terrible times - an age of censorship, when the truth no longer matters and anyone who thinks differently can easily be jailed and silenced"
the organization announced.
Featured image: CitizenGo
