A Christian street preacher was confronted by five police officers in London after a complaint by a member of the public.

Footage of the incident on Uxbridge High Street, west London, was uploaded to YouTube by the Contagious Christian channel. 

It shows a preacher being threatened with arrest after allegedly committing a hate crime by making homophobic comments. 

The preacher filming the incident can be heard telling the officers: "All we're doing is preaching our religion. We've been preaching about the Gospel and Jesus Christ [and what] the Bible says in the book of John, chapter three verse 16.

"For God's love of the world he gave his one and only son so that whoever, whatever person - homosexual, drunk, liar or a prostitute - believes in him shall not perish and have everlasting life."

During the exchange, one of the officers can be heard saying, "Currently there's allegations of a hate crime, a public order offence, section 4a [and] allegations of homophobia.

"I've not heard anything, I'm not saying I've heard anything. Someone's called us. It might be completely untrue or true ... [but] if I do walk away and I see offences, and the victim wants to press charges ... I could have failed a potential victim."

When the preacher asks for clarification, another officer tells him that the allegation relates to a potential hate crime which as caused "alarm or distress in a public space".

The preacher is threatened with arrest unless he agrees to give his name and address.

"You can spend the night in a cell and we can do it that way," one of the officers says. 

They appear to let him go after he shares his details.

Comments posted on YouTube accused the police of double standards after they were accused of doing nothing when protesters called for jihad in London in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel. 

"This is absolutely bizarre. Islamists can call for Jihad on the streets of London, but do not dare preach about Jesus?" said one person. 

Another wrote, "No wonder the country is in the state it is at the moment. Harassing preachers instead of stopping real crime."

Just last month the Metropolitan Police came under fire after a volunteer officer wrongly told a Christian singer performing on London's Oxford Street that she was not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds.

The officer threatened to take away the equipment of Harmonie London and stuck her tongue out at her when she defended her right to sing the songs. 

The Met later apologised for the offence caused.