A Christian volunteer who was arrested and fined on Easter Sunday for street preaching is to pursue legal action against the police.

Andrew Sathiyavan, 46, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), was arrested while preaching on Sutton High Street, in south London, on Easter Sunday 2020. 

He was told by officers at the time that only exercising, going to work, or going to the shops was allowed under Covid laws, but not street preaching.

After being arrested, he was taken into custody and held for four hours before being released, CLC said.

The fine was upheld by Deputy District Judge Minhas at the City of London magistrates court, who ruled that street preaching was not a valid reason for being out on the streets because Mr Sathiyavan could have done his street preaching and ministry online.

Mr Sathiyavan, a full-time voluntary worker for Gospel Light Ministries, has decided to take legal action against the police after a similar incident while preaching in Solihull last November. 

He said he was pursuing legal action because he did not want other Christians and preachers to receive the same treatment.

"Gospel preaching is my work. I tell people about the Good News of Jesus Christ, which preachers have done for centuries in this country. I seek to reach people living in fear and without hope," he said.

"In this instance the police escalated the situation for no reason. I was treated like a criminal."

In an expert report in support of his case, Christian theologian Dr Martin Parsons writes that "arrests of street preachers were until recently extremely rare."

He concluded that: "The defendant is involved in open air evangelism for which there is an extremely long history of freedom of religion in the UK. This type of evangelism has been of critical importance in the development of freedom of religion in the UK.

"There is therefore a potentially significant conflict between this aspect of freedom of religion both in terms of how it has been developed in British constitutional history and the interpretation of current Coronavirus regulations by the Metropolitan Police."

CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams said the treatment of Mr Sathiyavan was "disturbing".

"The police presence on Sutton High Street caused a greater risk to public health than if they had allowed Andrew to continue preaching," she said.

"The inconsistencies in the policing on these issues during the pandemic has been stark. Christian preachers seem to be easy targets and other groups favoured.

"We will stand with Andrew as he now appeals and pursues legal action."