Street preacher arrested for using a loud voice



In another ludicrous piece of intimidation against Christians, Josh Williamson was arrested last Saturday because someone complained that he was speaking too loudly while he was preaching the Gospel - shouting, the police said. Nobody complained about the street buskers who were using loudspeakers so they were not arrested. Williamson was held for five hours in a Perth (Scotland) Police Station. (In the video, the police intervene at 6'52")

The Christian Legal Centre has a short report.

This would be a good time to take another look at Rowan Atkinson on freedom of speech He refers to a classic Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch in which a manifestly racist officer, Constable Savage, is dressed down for arresting a black man on charges such as "walking in a loud shirt in a built-up area during the hours of darkness", "walking around all over the place", and "looking at me in a funny way." As Rowan Atkinson asked, "Who would have thought that we would end up with a law that would allow life to imitate art so exactly?" He was referring to Section 5 of the Public Order Act but it also applies to the arrest of Josh Williamson for "Breach of the Peace" on the grounds that he was preaching too loudly.

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