Youth preacher arrested while protesting Drag Story Hour, reading Bible in Wisconsin

Police in Watertown, Wisconsin arrested a Christian youth preacher as he peacefully protested a Drag Queen Story Hour event at a local park with his fellow congregants on Saturday. 

Marcus Schroeder was subsequently charged with "unlawful use of sound amplification and resisting arrest."

According to the Republic Sentinel, Schroeder and a number of other members from Mercy Seat Christian Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin made the 50-mile journey to Watertown to protest the event on Saturday. 

The group of young people first attempted to get their message across inside the park by praying and talking to attendees, but were arrested and let off with warnings if they promised to stay beyond the fences.

They complied, and then began protesting from outside the park, with Schroeder using a microphone to ensure everyone could still hear him as he preached. 

Video captured by the church's minister of evangelism, Jason Storms, shows an officer walking up to Schroeder and attempting to snatch the microphone out of his hands before disconnecting it from the amplifier.

"They said we can speak out on the sidewalk freely?" Storms asked, to which another officer replied, "You can speak but there's no amplified devices."

Before long, officers grabbed Schroeder's arms and tried to arrest him.

"You guys are acting like thugs," Storms said as they yanked the microphone away from Schroeder and handcuffed him. "He has every right to be out here engaging in speech!"

In an interview with the Republic Sentinel, Schroeder said it was all "worth it," adding, "It's actually an honor to be counted worthy to stand with the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and been arrested for the sake of spreading Christ and his kingdom."

At one point in the day, a group of Nazi sympathizers showed up at the park and "waved flags bearing the swastika symbol, gave the Nazi salute to onlookers, and yelled homophobic rhetoric." None of them were arrested.

Gov. Tony Evers (D) condemned the presence of Nazis, and expressed his support for the LGBTQ community.