Hilversum
Recently AbortusInformatie held a street awareness campaign outside the EO Evangelische Omroep offices in Hilversum, on their 50th anniversary.
A few days earlier on a Pauw TV roundtable program some said they had been ‘too activist’ on ethical / moral issues in the past (Pauw 17.4.2017).
http://www.uitzendinggemist.net/ aflevering/389221/Pauw.html
[EO … ‘en activistisch met streng over homosexualiteit, abortus, euthenasie en evolutie’ … activism about ethical topics … ‘te activistisch’].
We wanted to show them how we did activism, educating the public, as every day babies lives are ending.
A man claiming to work for EO (who twice when asked refused to give his name):
(a) attempted to confiscate and walk away with AbortusInformatie.nl’s courtesy sign, during our education display on the public walkway;
(b) when we asked for it to be returned, he put our sign behind his back out of reach, and sat on it;
(c) then attempted to silence Ms. Van der Wende later by blocking her path as she walked, forcing her sign down to the ground, arm over the sign, and in an intimidating manner warned not to inform others of what had taken place.
It is AbortusInformatie.nl’s general policy to report illegal activity to authorities, as we take care to operate within the laws for freedom of expression, and will not be intimidated into surrendering our expressive right.
AbortusInformatie.nl requested to talk with EO manager Arjan Lock, ‘om dit in goede harmonie op te lossen’ and that ‘wat mij betreft hoeft het niet zo ver te komen’ [om aangifte te doen].
The bottom line given by Arjan Lock in writing was that he felt our method didn’t help the cause [concerning the topic of abortion and its effects], and therefore didn’t see a reason to meet to discuss. ‘Uw werkwijze draagt daar in onze ogen niet aan bij en ik zie daarom geen reden op uw verzoek in te gaan.’
Note: where possible we place courtesy signs “Warning Abortion Images Ahead” on approaches for members of the public who wish to avoid seeing the images, giving them a chance to look away, take a different route, distract children, cross the road, avert their gaze, etc. We also often, out of courtesy, close the signs if we notice children approaching.
