Christian preacher arrested with anti-Islam sign at London Cathedral protest loses High Court battle with Met Police
Christian preacher arrested with anti-Islam sign at London Cathedral protest loses High Court battle with Met Police
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A Christian preacher arrested outside a London cathedral with a placard saying “Love Muslims, Ban Islam, the Religion of Terror” has lost a legal claim that he was unlawfully detained by police. Ian Sleeper was arrested on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offence after the incident outside Southwark Cathedral on June 23, 2017.
He staged the protest a few weeks after the London Bridge terror attack, when three Islamic State-inspired extremists killed eight people and injured 48 others in a van and knife rampage through the streets. Earlier that year, a terrorist carried out an attack on Westminster Bridge, killing five, an Islamophobic van driver killed a Muslim man outside Finsbury Park Mosque, and a suicide bomber took 22 lives at Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert.
Mr Sleeper, 57, was in possession of two signs when he was arrested - one stating “#Love Muslims, Hate Islam, Jesus is Love + Hope” and the other reading: “Love Muslims, Ban Islam, the Religion of Terror”. The Metropolitan Police defended the rights of officers to intervene and shut down the protest, in the “febrile“ aftermath of a series of terrorist attacks.
He was held in custody by the Metropolitan Police for more than 12 hours before being released on bail, and two months later he was told there would be no criminal charges. Mr Sleeper, an evangelical Christian preacher, sued Scotland Yard, claiming false arrest, false imprisonment and breach of human rights.
