Activist Montgomery Toms was arrested on Saturday by eleven police officers in Westminster, London, because he attended an LGBTQ+ demonstration wearing a large board that had the transgender-pride flag, the equal sign, and the words “mental illness.” Within about 30 minutes of his counter-demonstration, a police officer was filmed telling Toms that the sign “is going to antagonize,” “is going to cause friction within this crowd,” and “is going to cause a problem.” Toms retorts, “So, because of them, I have to shut my mouth up?” Rather than remove the sign, Toms walked away, and then the authorities arrested him. In a video of him being handcuffed, an officer is overheard saying that “this gentleman has committed an offense by displaying a sign or writing that is likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.” (Somewhat hilariously, Toms says in the course of the arrest, “Actually, I identify as a woman, can I have a woman search me?”) Toms said on social media that he was held in solitary confinement for about nine hours and released on pre-charge bail conditions that prohibit him from reentering Westminster — in other words, a condition that partially prevents him from further activism. Since it was a “pre-charge” bail, he has not yet been charged, although the police were filmed saying he was being arrested for a public-order offense. 

When LGBTQ+ activists released 6,000 crickets into the audience during a gender-critical conference held by the LGB Alliance in Westminster, the police detained several people but made no arrests; according to “Trans Kids Deserve Better,” the organization that coordinated the entomological chaos, the six activists either fled the scene or were “held by security for a period before being let go.” Apparently, deliberately infesting a venue with insects is an acceptable form of counterprotest if you are progressive, whereas standing peacefully with a sign warrants time in a cell if its message is perceived as right-wing and upsetting to a certain group of people.