Street preacher silenced
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) has taken up the case of a Manchester street preacher who was silenced by police officers.
Miguel Hayworth, 29, has been preaching in the streets of Manchester for the past five years. He said this July he was approached several times by Greater Manchester police, while preaching along with his father in St Ann’s Square. The police accused him of ‘inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comment’.
Mr Hayworth said these accusations were untrue and claimed that further police harassment came in the form of warnings that it was ‘against the law to preach and hand out tracts; preaching causes offence and handing out tracts is harassment and could result in arrest’.
Mr Hayworth was said to be reading out scriptures that included 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Romans 1:27. However, he was warned that this was ‘religious hatred’ and an arrestable offence.
Human rights barrister Paul Diamond has been appointed to handle his case. Andrea Minichiello Williams, CLC director, has criticised the policemen’s treatment of Mr Hayworth in a letter to the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester.
