FAKE NEWS: In Great Britain, a woman was arrested on suspicion of silently praying

Dozens of international conservative organizations and supporting media around the world have condemned in recent days the arrest by British police of a woman for the “crime” of saying a prayer to herself on a street in Birmingham. In reality, the woman was unlawfully in an area where she shouldn’t have been, according to a protection order, thus breaching a local council decision.

NEWS:  In Great Britain, a woman was arrested on suspicion of silently praying.

She is sent to court and faces up to two years in prison, because she confessed that she was praying (I repeat, silently), near an abortion clinic, a place where, apparently, it is forbidden to pray, even (or maybe especially, who knows?) silently”.

NARRATIVE: The New World Order seeks to destroy Christianity, the last bastion of resistance against Satanic rule.

CONTEXT: Conspiracy theories fueled by disinformation campaigns launched primarily by Russia attempt to lend credence to the idea that there are various occult plots to subjugate humanity and turn it away from Christianity. Narratives along these lines can be found in conspiracy theories like PizzaGate and QAnon, in the Russian propaganda discourse on Gayropa, in the fierce opposition to biological passports (or to vaccination certificates and QR codes during the Covid-19 pandemic), in fake news  about   the EU banning Christmas , in populist speeches advocating for the “traditional family”.

Almost any event, no matter how insignificant, can be linked to the “persecution of Christians”, through ambiguous and allusive wording or omission of information. Theories of this kind could obviously not bypass Romania, a still deeply religious and conservative country with inclinations towards extremism since the last century. The last three years have been a veritable festival of fake news, many with Moscow origins, adapted to the local ethos by opinion leaders of ultra-conservative extremist circles. The ultra-religious discourse in Romania goes hand in hand with the pro-Putinist one: Archbishop Teodosie does not believe that the Russian president is doing anything wrong  and Senator Diana Şoșoacă, a declared antivaxxer pleaded in the midst of the pandemic for the Russian anti-covid19 vaccine, Sputnik, and was convinced that there was no war in Ukraine .

PURPOSE: To defend the false theory that the Christian religion is the preferred target of the world occult, and convince believers that we are in the midst of a “holy war”; to incite hatred and social disobedience.

WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Since 2014, UK local authorities have been given powers under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act to introduce Public Space Protection Orders, known as PSPOs. They are intended to more effectively resolve nuisances or problems that harm a community's quality of life. A PSPO is intended to ensure that people can use and enjoy public spaces while being safe from anti-social behavior, and may impose conditions and restrictions on people using the specified area.

The incident referred to in the news in question took place in such a space, delimited by a PSPO set up around an abortion clinic, to ensure both clients and clinic employees unrestricted access, without fear of confrontations, challenges or aggression. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the arrested woman, is a well-known British anti-abortion activist, leader of the organization March for Life UK. Prior to the day of her arrest, she had violated that order , signaled by a clear display, three more times and was invited to the police station to give statements.

The arrest came after the woman refused to voluntarily accompany the police crew, which is standard procedure for police around the world. Later released, she was charged with violating the special protection order and will be tried in a local court. The fact that, during the dialogue with the policeman present, she said that she “she may have silently prayed” has absolutely nothing to do with her arrest, just as there is no “thought crime” in British law.