Police 'grossly exceeded their powers' disrupting Polish Good Friday service

On Good Friday, police officers interrupted the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at Christ the King Polish Catholic Church in Balham, south London, and told the congregation to go home or face substantial fines.

A police officer was caught on video telling parishioners that the service was "unfortunately unlawful under the coronavirus regulations." He added: "You are not allowed to meet inside with this many people under law."

The parish released a statement:

"On Good Friday, April 2, 2021, during the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion, at the time of the Adoration of the Cross, around 6pm, the police arrived at the door of our church. We were not allowed to finish the celebration. The police declared our liturgical assembly illegal and ordered everyone to leave the church immediately or risk a £200 fine for each parishioner present or even arrest. The faithful obeyed this order without objection.

"We believe, however, that the police brutally exceeded their powers by issuing their warrant for no good reason, as all government requirements were met."

In their statement, the parish said: "We believe municipal police officials have been misinformed about the current guidelines for places of worship, saying the reason for their intervention is the continuing ban on public worship in London due to the lockdown introduced on January 4, 2021.

"We regret the rights of the faithful have been violated on such an important day for every believer, and that our worship has been profaned."

The statement reiterated that the guidelines published by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales "clearly allow - with all sanitary rules - the liturgies of Holy Week to be celebrated in places of worship with the participation of the faithful."

According to the Archdiocese of Southwark's Facebook page, Archbishop John Wilson made a pastoral visit to the parish earlier today to discuss the incident with Monsignor Stefan Wylezek, who "intends to contact the Metropolitan Police authorities about how the situation was handled."

Peter Hitchens tweeted: "The police invasion (on a Covid pretext) of a Good Friday devotion at an RC Church in Balham (apparently with a Polish congregation) must open everyone's eyes to the fact that this is no longer a Christian country."

Fr Lawrence Lew posted the following statement on Facebook yesterday: "Let this not disturb your Holy Saturday stillness and quiet, but take this situation up in prayer, and hopefully, in action after Easter Sunday. We need more facts about what happened and why it happened, but this incident in South London saddens, irks, and annoys me."

Andrzej Fryzicki posted up this YouTube video of the incident: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOKm4k2Wcc&t=1s and wrote: "A service was disrupted this evening by the Metropolitan Police in Balham - South West London. It is believed that attendance was pre-booked and that all safety measures were in place prior to the mass taking place."

Jack Valero from Opus Dei said that while the government's aim to keep people safe from Covid was welcome, the police action in Balham had 'overstepped the mark'. See: www.facebook.com/jack.valero/videos/10165269243050106