Christian street preachers arrested and dragged to court in wave of wrongful police action
Reach Daily Express February 25, 2026 06:42 PM

A female police officer's defence of a Christian street preacher facing an angry Muslim mob has been held up as a rare example of proper law enforcement - standing in stark contrast to Britain's escalating crisis of wrongful evangelical arrests costing thousands in taxpayer money.

In recent years Christian preachers have been increasingly targeted by members of rival regious groups, woke political activitists, and most worryingly the police - just for standing in the street and speaking their religious beliefs in what is still held to be a Christian country.

£20,000 paid to one preacher alone

Britain's pattern of Christian persecution through wrongful arrest has reportedly led to one street evangelist being paid £20,000 - preacher Hatun Tash is understood to have collected two separate £10,000 Metropolitan Police settlements within 24 months after unlawful Speakers' Corner detentions.

The Met press office were contacted by the Express for comment via email.

Last November the Express reported on how Shaun O'Sullivan was acquitted of racial harassment following arrest number sixteen in his preaching career - this detention was triggered by his Gaza conflict statement "Pray for the Jews and pray for the Palestinians."

On Sunday, it the Express reported on Bristol preacher Dia Moodley, who endured custody lasting eight hours in November on "inciting racial hatred" charges which later collapsed, whilst during the summer prosecutors abandoned their Rotherham case against 25-year veteran John Steele who was arrested after a Quran discussion with a hijab-wearing woman.

British Transport Police reportedly ordered gospel distribution to be halted outside King's Cross Station when an officer declared the activity morally objectionable. The Daily Mail reported the reason given by the officer was: "I just think it's wrong."

Preacher shoved, equipment kicked

The one recent widely-known example of an officer bucking this trend occurred yards from Western Europe's largest mosque - the East London facility accommodating 7,000 worshippers daily - where the Christian was evangelising with Bible and microphone in the heart of Whitechapel's 52.2 per cent Muslim population (9,843 of 18,841 residents per Census data).

Video evidence shows a bearded protester demanding: "Talk about Jesus, don't talk about Muhammad. Don't say Muhammad."

Subsequent footage captures escalating physical aggression - masked assailants shoving the preacher, equipment being kicked, faces screaming "where you come from?" at close range, and a violent rear push from a third masked Muslim.

One protester's repeated shout: "Your God is a Jew."

The police caller claimed the preacher upset "hundreds of people" through comments "talking about the prophet, then he said like a donkey" whilst "spreading hatred" and calling Mecca's sacred Kaaba Black Stone "a box".

The preacher rejected the allegations, explaining he quoted Muhammad "who says if a donkey brays it's because he is seeing Satan."

'Hero' police officer faces down the mob

The officer stood firm, telling assembled protesters: "In this country we have freedom of speech, the same way you guys have your freedom of speech. You guys don't need to see eye-to-eye, and you don't need to agree. You're all more than welcome to stand here and have conversations with them, but they're not being aggressive."

The Free Speech Union's Toby Young singled out the Metropolitan Police officer for knowing constitutional basics many of her colleagues ignore: "The police are far too quick to arrest Christian street preachers, often at the behest of woke activists.

"The courts have made it clear that stopping them preaching in the public square is a breach of their right to free speech, but the message hasn't found itself into the training given to new police recruits. That's why the behaviour of the woman police constable (WPC) in Whitehall was so exemplary. She knew the law."

Monday's Whitechapel High Street incident, filmed and now viral, captured the officer reminding hostile protesters of fundamental British rights: "In this country, we have freedom of speech."

When crowd members insisted the east London neighbourhood qualified as "a Muslim area" - despite no legal restriction on Christian evangelism based on local demographics - she calmly explained: "I understand that you guys don't want to hear it, so I would just recommend that you walk away and don't listen to him. He's not in your home."

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