Church group feel intimidated by police

An evangelical church in Manchester have felt intimdated by  an investigation by the police regarding handing out evangelical literature.
Following a complaint that Chorlton Evangelical Church in Manchester was distributing invitations to an Easter service in an area which reputedly houses  a numer of gay people, a group of Christian workers were first of all surrounded by mounted policemen who later called up a police van with officers in body armour.

Following a referral to the original complainant who objected to the church's activities a police officer from the 'Race and Hate Crime Unit' returned later the next day after having examined the Christian group's literature. The officer then said that no crime had been committed

The church evangelist, Julian Hurst, suggested that to be surrounded by five police officers - two mounted and three from a police van - was a 'little disproportionate' for the situation. And expressed concern about the apparent attempts to gag Christians using 'hate crime' legislation.

Last month a high-profile banner was strung out across Academy Street in Inverness inviting citizens to report incidents of 'hate crime'. And an Inverness newspaper recently published a column about Christian attitudes to gay sexuality headlined 'Bullies conducting a vile vendetta'.
It is therefore of little surprise that these developments have led to the situation in Manchester whereby the police are obliged to respond to Christian outreach activities because one (or other) member of the general public are unhappy with the Christian message.