A street preacher has been awarded £5,500 in compensation from Police Scotland after he was unlawfully arrested for an alleged ‘hate’ incident in January 2022.
Angus Cameron was arrested in Buchanan Street, Glasgow for an alleged breach of the peace ‘with homophobic aggravation’, handcuffed and held in a police van for over an hour. He commented: ‘I still don’t know what I was supposed to have said.’
Before and after his arrest, Cameron consistently asked what he was supposed to have said. The police officer refused to say what he was supposed to have said, even though they had statements. He was told there were complaints that he had made statements that were homophobic and offended some people.
Though no formal charges were brought against Cameron, he claimed compensation from Police Scotland with two aims: ‘To have my record expunged and to have greater freedom for street teachers in Scotland.’
Speaking of the award – which he has donated to the Christian Institute, which support him – Cameron said: ‘Another Godgiven victory over tyranny. I always wanted my case to be an encouragement to other preachers.’
Police Scotland did not admit liability or apologise – but agreed to pay his costs.
Meanwhile, a councillor who re-tweeted a video of a Christian street preacher’s arrest, for which the preacher later won £2,500 for wrongful arrest, has himself been arrested for an alleged public order offence. It is understood he has been released on bail.
In August, 50-year-old Anthony Stevens, a Tory councillor in Wellingborough, retweeted a video showing the 2019 arrest of Oluwole Ilisanmi in London. Police arrested and questioned Stevens about the tweet and as to why he expressed support on Twitter for King Lawal. Lawal is a councillor recently suspended by the Tory party and ‘cancelled’ by other organisations because of his Christian beliefs.
Stevens said he reposted the video as ‘disturbing evidence of religious discrimination in law enforcement’, not realising it was first posted by a member of Britain First (the far right political party).
He called his arrest ‘truly bizarre’ and added: ‘In a true democratic society, you cannot have people being arrested for a few tweets. We must have debate, we must have the freedom to criticise and offend each other, otherwise this country is going to swiftly go to pot.’
