Police apologise after storming Harehills church

West Yorkshire Police returned to a Harehills church this week to deliver a rare in-person apology after storming a memorial service earlier this month.

Police said they were attempting to arrest a man “wanted on recall to prison” when they disrupted the service which took place at the New Testament Church of God (NTCG) on Easterly Road, the same church where the incident occurred.

The in-person apology marks a significant development following days of outrage from the congregation and the wider Black community in Leeds.

Bishop Tony Parry, who was at the heart of the service, said the moment mattered deeply to him and to the family whose tribute was disrupted. 

He added: “Today was vitally important for me. The morning after the event, when the senior police officers came to see me, I told them, if they were honest about wanting to repair relations with our community, they had to be honest and put their hand up and say they got it wrong.

“There are definitely going to be lessons learned, and hopefully those lessons learned can cascade down the country, because I’m sure it is not just Leeds that these issues reside. 

“What I hope that can emerge from this is a set of protocols that the authorities would use to ensure they could not do something like this again.”

His sentiments were echoed by other members of the congregation who were in attendance.

Arthur France MBE, a community leader and activist who is one of the founders of the West Indian Carnival was also at the service. He said: “The police came and apologised. I will accept it and move on and see what happens. The police say they will come back and try to build bridges and I hope it will work.”

While the apology was welcomed, many of those we spoke to were clear that safeguards must now be put in place to stop it happening again.

Community activist, Chijioke Ojukwu said: “It’s the right step, and hopefully it’s not the end of the journey. I would love to see the body cam footage because when we see what actually happened, the community can review it properly. The investigation into the incident should be thorough without covering for anyone.”

A force spokesperson said that a “thorough review” of the incident was taking place.