Hatun Tash: Speakers’ Corner is anti-Christian,

From the Sun and The Times

Ms Tash, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity, said that she has been verbally and physically attacked in the past while preaching at Speakers’ Corner at the park.

Speakers’ Corner is known for being a place where people can freely express their opinions.

Ms Tash said: “I am upset and disturbed by what has happened to me. I am asking myself if have done anything wrong?. . . I am convinced I have not broken any law or incited hate. All I did was question Islam and I wanted to debate discuss and to tell people about Jesus Christ. Speakers’ Corner is a great place to do this, it is a shame that this has happened at the home of freedom of speech.”

She said she believed the attacker’s “intention was clearly to kill me”.

Ms Tash added: “I can’t believe this has happened in broad daylight at Speakers’ Corner. You do not expect such things to happen in Great Britain.”

She claimed a lack of action from police contributed to her being knifed. “My attacker was not even afraid of the police as he did it right in front of them,” she said. “It is heartbreaking that we live in a society where police do not want to arrest a Muslim for fear of being called ‘Islamophobic.’”

Tash, who is from Turkey but moved to the UK eight years ago, told The Times that she was a former Muslim who converted to Christianity.

She began preaching at Speakers’ Corner in 2013 and said: “In my early days Speakers’ Corner was a much calmer place. Now it is not and I am regularly attacked by a Muslim mob.”

She said the atmosphere had become unacceptable: “We don’t live in Pakistan, we don’t live in Saudi Arabia. I am Christian and by default I believe that Muhammad is a false prophet. I should be allowed to say that in the UK.”

As an aside that is an interesting difference of house style there from the two newspapers. The Times, the newspaper of record and generally percieved as the ‘posh people’s’ paper calls Miss Tash by her surname, as if she was a member of the ranks or a parlourmaid. The Sun, seen as rather vulgar and plebeian gives her the courtesy of the title Ms. But I digress. 

Two weeks before she was stabbed, Ms Tash started legal proceedings against the Met Police over allegations of false arrest and imprisonment. Ms Tash is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre with her legal action against the police. She claimed she was illegally held in December and again in May this year in relation to clashes with groups of Muslims.

In relation to Ms Tash’s claims, a Met Police spokesman said: “We can confirm the MPS is in receipt of a claim made by a woman in her 30s in relation to interaction with police on two occasions. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

The force also confirmed no arrests have been made.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Tash, described the most recent incident as “harrowing”, adding: “If Hatun is silenced by violence at Speakers’ Corner, we are all silenced.”