‘I want to engage with the police and the public’

» PASTOR Moodley continues to preach in Bristol city centre. He said: “I started preaching in Broadmead about seven years ago, but when I started I wanted to learn from the experiences of the people who had preached there before me, so I was very keen to start a relationship with the police from the beginning.

“I want to engage with the police, and I want to engage with the public – my way of doing that when preaching is I want us to have a conversation, let’s do a question and answer, let me ask a question and you can ask a question. I am only stating things that are in the Bible,” he told the Post. “For a number of years I was able to do this hassle-free, but more recently I have been the subject of abuse and attacks, and that’s not acceptable. I’ve had racism and people arguing with me, which is fine – everyone has the right to speak as they feel, and I would rather people said what they thought than attack me or chase us away,” he added.

“On one occasion, we were chased into The Galleries and into the car park and attacked. When we report things that happen like this to the police, the response will be that we somehow deserve it or ask for this,” he added. “The first restrictions on me were very strict – I was not allowed to speak to or challenge an atheist, no mention of gays or abortion, and I refused to accept it. I told my solicitor and we engaged in legal proceedings. The police changed the restrictions, but I wanted them to apologise and acknowledge it was too restrictive,” he said.