The UK’s Metropolitan Police Monday told the public it is “unacceptable” to criticize police officers when they have abused their authority.
The statement came the day after an incident on Westminster’s Oxford Street involving a young woman named Harmonie London. London, a social media influencer with nearly 300,000 YouTube subscribers, was singing Gospel songs in public when she was approached by volunteer Met Police constable Maya Hadzhipetkova, who ordered London to stop singing.
According to a footage clip posted to social media, Hadzhipetkova told London that singing Gospel songs outside of a church is against the law.
“No miss, you’re not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds, by the way,” the volunteer cop said.
London challenged this statement but Hadzhipetkova only doubled down and said that Gospel music is illegal “outside of church grounds unless you’re being authorized by the church to do this kind of song.”
When the young busker asked the cop if she cared about the Human Rights Act, Hadzhipetkova stuck her tongue out at the taxpayer.
Following significant pushback on social media, the Met Police wrote on X that they were “working to understand the context in which these comments were made” and that “the officer knows she could have handled this differently and is speaking to her manager.”
But the police signed off with an admonition to taxpayers: “We’re aware of significant social media commentary. Some of the comments are personal and hurtful. This is unacceptable.”
In a later statement the police added: “The officer was mistaken in saying church songs cannot be sung outside of church grounds. We’re sorry for the offence caused and will take the learning forward.”
London told the Daily Mail that the volunteer police officer had threatened to seize her equipment and forced her not only to stop singing but to pack up her things and leave. Bystanders came to the busker’s defense, however, with some even chiding the cop for not focusing on law enforcement.
“They had so much power that they could create their own laws,” London said about the police officers who were there. “It was almost like you don’t care whether I have human rights. When a police officer is telling you that, and threatening to take your equipment… a big crowd gathered to protect me.”
The incident came a week after Met Police accused a piano player of “making communist comments” at Chinese tourists who were waving a Chinese flag. The tourists had approached Brendan Kavanagh, a YouTuber musician who regularly plays piano at St. Pancras station in London. They demanded Kavanagh turn off his camera because it had them in the shot and they are celebrities in China.
Kavanagh refused, arguing that he is allowed to shoot video in a public space and does not need their consent. He reminded the group that they were standing in Great Britain and not “Communist China,” and asked them why they were carrying a “communist flag.”
When the police arrived, a policewoman sided with the Chinese tourists and ordered Kavanagh to turn his camera off, also warning him against posting any of the footage to his YouTube channel. She then accused the pianist of making disrespectful comments about communism.
“The matter is, they say you’ve been making communist comments at them,” the policewoman said.
Ultimately, Kavanagh refused the order to turn off his camera and the police walked away.
“Free speech prevails,” he said.
