EGN NEWS DESK
The Metropolitan Police has responded to accusations of a “Christian crackdown” by the Daily Mail after a confrontation between officers and a avenue preacher in London.
Pastor Dwayne Lopez was preaching outdoors a buying centre on Uxbridge High Street in west London when he was approached by 5 officers who advised him that he might have dedicated a “hate crime” regarding “homophobia”.
He was then threatened with arrest except he gave the officers his private particulars.
Speaking after the incident, footage of which was posted to YouTube, Pastor Lopez stated that police have been “harassing” avenue preachers.
The Met has since issued an announcement standing by the response of its officers. It stated that movies on social media “hardly ever inform the complete story, particularly once they’ve been lower or edited to make a selected level”.
“In this case, officers from our Professional Standards Directorate have checked out all of the physique worn video footage obtainable – greater than 50 minutes of it,” it stated.
“No misconduct was discovered. In reality, the officers concerned have been counseled for his or her ‘skilled behaviour, their endurance and their data of the laws’ and for doing a very good job in a doubtlessly tough scenario.”
The Met additionally criticised media protection of the incident and stated it was “disappointing” that a few of it had not met the take a look at of being balanced and correct.
Singling out the Daily Mail, which had recommended a “Christian crackdown”, the Met stated this was “simply not a good strategy to describe officers responding to allegations of racist and homophobic remarks being shouted on the street”.
