Met Police Hit Back At Daily Mail’s Reporting On Christian Street Preacher Incident
The Met Police published this screengrab of the article it said unfairly characterised the incident. (Screengrab X)
London’s Metropolitan Police hit back against the Daily Mail’s reporting of an incident in which a Christian street preacher was threatened with arrest by officers as unfair coverage.
The article features video of the contentious interaction on Uxbridge High Street between the preachers and police officers, which went viral on social media. During the exchange the preacher demands clarification as to the offence and police officers describe “allegations of a hate crime” and “public order offence.”
Taking to X, the organisation said: “Our officers do a really tough job and they know their actions will be scrutinised by the media. All they ask is that the coverage is balanced and accurate. It’s disappointing that some of the reporting we have seen on this incident has not met this test.”
Pushing back on the Daily Mail’s characterisation of the incident, the Met Police published the call log from a member of the public who said the preachers were “shouting homophobic and racist” statements.
The headline also suggests that if we get a report from “just ONE member of the public” we shouldn’t respond as we did.
We think many people would disagree and we’ve taken the unusual step of publishing the initial call log below, showing what officers were responding to, so… pic.twitter.com/jTwU9wUNIt
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 15, 2024
The article characterises the moment as “yet another incident of police officers appearing to threaten Christians with arrest.”
Just weeks ago, in a separate incident also covered by the Mail, a 20-year-old Christian singing gospel songs on Oxford Street found herself confronted by officers who said she could not “sing church songs outside of church grounds” and threatened to seize her equipment.
Social media clips of that interaction went viral after the officers became increasingly sarcastic, with one female officer sticking out her tongue to the camera. After subsequent media coverage, Scotland Yard began an investigation and apologised for “the offence caused.”
