Riot police called to protect pro-life protesters in France
In a few weeks my partner Tim at ProLifeBlogs.com and I will launch ProLifePlanet.com, a blog that will corral international pro-lifers and groups in one place for information dissemination and encouragement.
Following is an example of one reason why we all need each other, taken from an email forwarded to me by Rod Murphy, author of the book, Stopping Abortions at Death’s Door, from his nephew Niall Murphy in France. Niall learned about pro-life protests here in America from his uncle. The prologue from Rod:
[Niall] has been trying to start a sidewalk counseling effort in Paris and running into great difficulty, Catholic indifference, and now overwhelming hostility from the feminist and leftist Mafia. Yet he perseveres.
Following is Niall’s account of his first experience, which happened on September 17. The excellent and frightening photos are by Armond Borlant Photographe. Click all to enlarge…
Hi Rod, How is everything doing? I’ve done my first sidewalk counseling. But it’s French sidewalk counseling. It was yesterday, in front of a hospital that just opened a abortion department in Paris.
We’ve declared the demonstration to the police one month ago, so everything was legal.
When I arrived with my car, I saw the group between 150 and 200 people already there, and therefore was happy of that success. When I got closer, and in order to park my car nearby, I realized it was not my group, it was a group of feminists, left wing, gay and lesbians! There was the riot police in position to stop them.
Finally, I saw my group, they were approximately 15. Mostly women between 60 and 80 years old! one priest, and a couple of 20 years old students. When I got to them, they were praying for the aborted babies occurring in the hospital, but also for their lives because the opposing group was now marching towards us.
The anti riot police came between us and them, and advised us to hide behind their truck. The opposing group was now throwing eggs and other stuff at us.
One small group of leftists succeeded to go through the police, and jumped on the guy in our group who was holding our flag. They broke the flag and his glasses.We stayed there one hour and a half, and the police escorted us to the subway.
It was just prayer. Because of the leftists, we couldn’t talk to anybody ! Here’s a few pictures of our association ‘s president being attacked. He is 82 years old and 75% blind!
I’m happy for that experience, and for the first time in my life, concerning the matter of abortion, I’ve been able to see clearly where the real violence came from. The next step is to find a way to contact these women in distress without ourselves being attacked.
Niall, we are all proud of you and your fellow pro-life saints. Your bravery was remarkable. Thank you for standing up for the little French babies.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
God bless these witnesses for life! I wish I could say that I was surprised at the abortion-tolerant violence (or at the likely silence from other abortion-tolerant people who claim to decry such violence and advocate free speech), but history has rendered that “surprise” nearly impossible.
WOW. Hooray for my pro-life brothers and sisters in France. What a spiritual war we are in. I am sure they were scared. I have seen the violence of pro-aborts with my own eyes. They are scary and violent and angry and most of it comes from the guilt they carry in their hearts. I have had male pro-aborts threaten to rape me (women’s rights, huh? “respect women”… yup.) I’ve had pro-aborts spit and cuss at me but not 200 at once. Just one or two of them angry and out of control was terrifying. But take comfort that we are on the side of truth and God sends angels to protect us. Though we can’t see these angelic defenders be assured they are there. And no weapon is more powerful than prayer. Praying for those brave pro-lifers in France. Don’t give up!
Wow…just wow…
:(
Good grief!! God bless YOUR witness, Sydney! I had no idea you’d been put through the wringer like that!
It’s frightening and sad to see people become so angry over the “right” to kill their own unborn children. But I’m looking forward to reading the international prolife website!
This is off-topic, but Georgia has denied clemency for Troy Davis. He’s the death row inmate who might very well be innocent of killing a policeman, but is due to be executed tomorrow. Sad.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/troy-davis-executed-parole-board-denies-clemency-131916604.html
I’m looking forward to reading the international prolife website!
Those savages deserve everything that’s coming down the line at them; cuts, austerity, ageing populations with no one to mind them, no pensions, working longer and longer, etc etc. There comes a time when pity for their ‘dark souls’ goes out the window… attacking an elderly, blind man… disgusting.
French libertines at their finest…
Can’t WAIT to hear the pro-aborts defend this and spin it. Indeed, we know where the real violence comes from…
That’s crazy. The pro-life movement faces opposition in America, too, but I have a hard time picturing that kind of mob violence here. Count your blessings, I guess…
Jen, I was thinking that too. The anger and hatred in the pro-aborts faces are frightening. It’s very squicky.
together we stand,no matter what we will defend the unborn.it will be my pleasure to be a member of this great ministry
God Bless the pro-lifers. St. Michael, the Archangel, protect them in battle.
Why would prayer evoke this kind of violent behavior??
It’s a Spiritual Battle for souls, make no mistake about it….and the Devil does not want to give anything up. Keep it up folks!!
I don’t know why anyone would be surprised at the pro-abort’s violent actions. Look at what they stand for.
God bless our French pro-life prayer warriors!
@RSD – Isn’t Joan of Arc the patron saint of France? Maybe they should invoke her!
Wow. I’m at a loss for words. God bless all those who witness for LIFE.
God bless them! How brave they were to stand firm in the face of such terrible opposition!
and yet I hear so many prochoicers saying that we “prolifers are violent because ‘we’ killed abortion doctors.” I dont know about you but I have never ever supported killing another person. Yet, that is what appears in the news. You can bet that this will not be in the news because no one in the government shows the true side of being prolife.
Hey, I thought pro-lifers were supposed to be the violent group? (Sarcastic)
I’ll be praying for my pro-life brothers and sisters in France. Thanks for posting this! More truth being shown of how “peaceful” pro-choicers are supposed to be.
This is true courage. I will pray for all of you!
“Can’t WAIT to hear the pro-aborts defend this and spin it. Indeed, we know where the real violence comes from…”
Crickets…surprise.
praying for those saints….the abortion movement is violent to the core…when i stand on the sidewalk here in Austin I see women coerced into abortions. One of my friends saw a teenager being dragged across the pavement into the mill by her own mother!…the attacks and the abuse we suffer on the sidewalk do not compare to the psychological and physical violence those girls endure…(www.kaylaschoice.com ) let us therefore never shrink from persecution….pray for protection and courage for all pro-life missionaries.
Ania –
I think I’m going to be sick…
How can a MOTHER force her child to get an abortion? To me, it just makes no sense…did that mother regret not aborting her own child? If not then how can she justify not only approving of the abortion but FORCING it?! Does she not have happy memories of loving her child???
…so disgusted. :(
Funny thing, if you look at the pictures the first act of violence was done by the police. It looks like the minute the cops sprayed the crowd with mace they retaliated.
Looks like the anti-choice movement is not going to do well in France… Good Luck.
Doesn’t surprise me – after all, France had their “Revolution” and the Terror…ungodly behavior is nothing new.
Biggz –
I’m sure the police wouldn’t have sprayed unless a violent act had happened, first.
As these are just a small collection of photos, and none of us were there or have a video of the event – you cannot possibly know that the police started it.
Biggz, NO thanks. You can keep your luck and we will look to the Lord for our assistance.
“St. Michael, the Archangel, protect them in battle.”
haha, like this. St. Michael seems to figure heavily in France and French history. Two wonderful sights in France, Le Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and the fountain @ the Place Saint-Michel in Paris, come to mind.
Leftists always seem to hate the truth. Their hatred for the prolife cause is a natural consequence of that. Wish I could say this whole Paris thing surprises me, but of course it doesn’t. The good news is that the protesters are surely not representative of the population as a whole. Most French citizens, ie, productive people who are out working for a living and/or raising families, even if they don’t classify themselves as prolife, are no doubt reasonable enough to see that the protesters are ridiculous and out of line. I acknowledge that if you are the person in the photo being attacked, that may be little consolation.
The more I see of the rest of the world, the more I realize that living in the US really is an inestimable blessing.
Moderators
Biggz @ 6:32 pm
Does calling the French “frogs” count as a racial or ethnic insult/slur? If it doesn’t or if it does, could you delete this post? Is there a protocol for pointing out possible rule breaking? Thanks!
Man o man, love how tolerant the left is.
We live in a society where NOBODY wants to take responsibility for their actions.. had sex? dont’ worry about it..just abort the child! Whenever someone does something that is morally wrong, they want to find a way to get out of it…whether i’ts a speeding ticket or casual sex with a stranger or whatever! These pro-abortion groups don’t see people as people…nothing has value to them but their own selfish rights!
The other thought is that violence begets violence…the root of abortion is the violence it causes to the unborn child..so… if they don’t see anything wrong with violence in the womb, they don’t see anything wrong with violence OUTSIDE the womb. (Yet the dare accuse prolifers of “interfering” with their right to be violent..How sick as our world become!
There you have it, people. These individuals were PRAYING outside an abortuary. They were being attacked for PRAYING. This should forever put to rest the question of whether “pro-abortion” is an acceptable substitute for “pro-choice.” Those attackers were NOT pro-“choice.” They were undeniably, demonstrably pro-ABORTION.
RCJC: I think slurs against the French are universally acknowledged as fair play; e.g., cheese-eating surrender monkeys. It’s a lot like Americans being called Yankee cowboys. In truth, wits engaging in such talk are well aware of French valor (possibly because it’s so succinctly chronicled), and a growing number of Europeans — perhaps as many as fourteen, of late — are aware that some Americans are not cowboys at all. ;-)
I love Biggz’ capacity to infer an entire scenario from a few photos. He can’t demonize the venerable pro-lifers based on anything in the photos, and he won’t criticize the pro-choicers; he opts to target a convenient scapegoat he needs to absolve his ilk from responsibility for their violent proclivities. Until they were pepper-sprayed, doubtless, the crowd was showering the pro-lifers with bouquets of lilies, leaping about gaily while singing a rousing La Marseillaise. When a melophobic gendarme could stand no more and peppered some of the prancing nymphs, it was only logical that these peaceable classical liberals should redress their offense by assaulting a couple old geezers beyond the police line.
Where would our understanding of world events be without Biggz’ recondite editorials?
“assaulting a couple old geezers beyond the police line”
Ain’t that the truth – about the old geezers that is. If that’s all the French “pro-life” movement has, then it’s in a pretty pathetic state. But how did Mr. Murphy (hardly a French name) know that the group consisted of lesbians and gays? I will say that the pics are excellent as they do capture the emotion of the scene – a scene that was played out, in part, during the old Operation Rescue operations, especially those mounted against Dr. Tiller. Screaming at old geezers is one thing; but the screaming at women who were accessing a legal surgical procedure was far worse. Rachel Maddow’s documentary about the assassination of Tiller provides some video documentation of the craziness in Kansas.
And where would our understanding of world events be without Rasqual’s ponderous pontifications? (Has to be a frustrated philosophy major who didn’t quite get that spot in academia that he felt was deserved!) But he is quite the wordsmith and wannabe logician.
“I love Biggz’ capacity to infer an entire scenario from a few photos.”
Me too! It is like he thinks it is a picture book.
“I think slurs against the French are universally acknowledged as fair play; e.g., cheese-eating surrender monkeys. It’s a lot like Americans being called Yankee cowboys. In truth, wits engaging in such talk are well aware of French valor (possibly because it’s so succinctly chronicled), and a growing number of Europeans — perhaps as many as fourteen, of late — are aware that some Americans are not cowboys at all.”
Well, I wouldn’t necessarily be offended if someone called me a Yankee cowgirl.
There are many things to be said about French valor, and I usually prefer to say them about Joan of Arc or Francis DeSales.
“There are many things to be said about French valor, and I usually prefer to say them about Joan of Arc or Francis DeSales.”
Without the assistance of the French, the American Revolution might have turned out differently. Has anybody here been to France? It’s quite lovely. Wonderful food, art, culture…
And where would we be without CC’s slim inferences regarding others’ careers?
You’re partly right, though. I set aside the first three candidate careers on my short list (despite 8 years in the first, and 5 additional years preparing for either of the other two), ending up doing something I’d never even thought of — work that let me be an engaged and present father to my four kids (and, as of last week, a first-time grandfather as well — woohoo!) while serving others in a socially valuable role.
I didn’t need to learn from these unplanned redirections that life’s an adventure, though. I suspect I welcomed them because I’ve always been adventurous. Frustrated? No. Insanely thankful that I’ve experienced such diverse scenery along the way? Yep!
Our wills and fates do so contrary run
That our devices still are overthrown;
Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own
At least the riot police in France were there to support them. In Canada these same pro-life demonstrators would have been arrested and charged with hate crimes.
CC and Biggz:
Looks like France is your kind of place. When the Muslims eventually outnumber the last vestiges of Christianity in France these pro-abort radicals will have an epiphany, and it will not be to their liking.
rasqual, congratulations grandpa!
RCJC: a growing number of Europeans — perhaps as many as fourteen, of late — are aware that some Americans are not cowboys at all.”
:) :) Ahahahahaaa!!
Did see a funny advertisement for a gun:
French military rifle for sale – excellent condition. Never fired. Dropped only once.
Phenomenal photos!!
God bless these brave souls. Keep them in prayer as they face the wrath of the death cult!!