Met Police threaten Christian preacher with ‘hate crime’ arrest

METROPOLITAN POLICE officers have been filmed threatening to arrest a Christian preacher over allegations of hate crime.

Video posted on social media showed a group of at least five officers demanding the names of the evangelist worshippers after a member of the public alleged that they had been racist and homophobic. The row was filmed outside the Pavilions shopping centre on Uxbridge High Street in west London and posted to Youtube last week.

One of the officers can be heard telling the preacher: “Currently there’s allegations of a hate crime, a public order offence, Section 4a [and] allegations of homophobia. I’ve not heard anything, I’m not saying I’ve heard anything. Someone’s called us. It might be completely untrue or true. But if I do walk away and I see offences, and the victim wants to press charges... I could have failed a potential victim.”

A second officer added that there has been an allegation of a hate crime and warned that causing “alarm or distress in a public space” amounts to a criminal offence. When the preacher says he does not wish to give his details, an officer says: “Provide me your name now or you will be arrested. You can spend the night in a cell and we can do it that way.”

It is unclear when the exchange took place or how long it lasted, as the nine-minute video by an account titled Contagious Christian features several cuts between clips.

A spokesman for the Met said: “Officers were responding to a report from a member of the public that a group of people were making racist and homophobic comments. The Met does not tolerate hate crime. Oficers informed the group of the allegations, explained what constitutes a hate crime, and asked what they had been discussing. “There were no arrests.”

The row comes after the force apologised when footage appeared to show a constable sticking her tongue out at a Christian singer and telling her she could not sing religious songs outside of church grounds.