Music-playing activist told police ‘you’ve got the wrong map’, court hears

An activist known as Stop Brexit Man who is on trial for playing amplifiers outside Parliament told police their map illustrating where he could not use them was incorrect, a court has heard.

Steve Bray, 56, allegedly flouted a police ban by playing anti-Conservative and anti-Brexit edits of The Muppet Show and Darth Vader’s theme tunes through the speakers on March 20 last year.

Police approached Bray on the traffic island at around 11.20am, minutes before then-PM Rishi Sunak arrived ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions, City of London Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday.

They handed him a map and a notice that warned he is prohibited from playing the speakers in the controlled area under a by-law, the court heard.

The music resumed intermittently and shortly after 12.33pm officers seized the speakers, the court was told.

Self-represented

Bray, who is self-represented, is charged with failing without reasonable excuse to comply with a direction given under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 “re prohibited activities in Parliament Square”.

He appeared to become emotional while cross-examining one of the officers who attended shortly before Mr Sunak arrived, and said “there is relevance to us for timing”.

“Those couple of minutes, they mean a lot to us”, he told Pc Euan Varney.

The Muppets and Darth Vader themes were used “as the prime minister came in, which is what we always did for Rishi – apparently he’s a Star Wars fan”, he added.

Bray, from Port Talbot, is known for playing music in protest around Westminster, including D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better at the gates of Downing Street when Mr Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain this May.

Senior officers had asked two police constables to travel to the area and speak to Bray about the amplifiers.

Pc Varney, who handed Bray the map and notice, told the court he had not previously been aware of the relevant law as he did not usually work in Westminster.

Outdated

Body-worn footage featured Bray, wearing a yellow and blue top hat, repeatedly telling police “you’ve got the wrong map”.

He said it was outdated and officers would learn that by asking someone higher up in the chain of command.

When told he was not allowed to play there, Bray stuck his fingers in his ears and said “No it’s not, it’s not, not here – it’s not wrong here”, the court heard.

“I know what I can’t do”, he said, suggesting officers stick it “where the sun don’t shine” before lighting a cigarette and looking away.

Wearing a blue and yellow top hat on the traffic island, that was decorated with blue and yellow bunting, he asked the officer: “You’re not normally here are you? You’ve got the wrong map, this is not the correct map.

“If this is not the right map you can’t enforce it.”

He told officers that he had been protesting in that area for four years and two years ago police seized his equipment.

“Two days later they called me up, apologised, and said it’s blocking up our evidence room,” he said.

“Two days later I came to collect it and they said we had got the wrong map, sorry”.

Mistaken

Bray said the officers’ superiors, or “bronzes”, were mistaken and added: “Sunak is due in in four minutes, so if you let us do our thing we would be grateful. We have come here to protest.”

“It’s not as if we’re throwing ourselves into the road, throwing cans of paint.”

Police later returned and seized two speakers and took them to Charing Cross police station without arresting Bray.

Parliamentary assistant Charles Rivington, who worked for an MP at the time but would not specify their party, said protest music he hears through his office window makes him feel “frustrated, definitely agitated, annoyed and distracted”.

He said his job requires “a lot of reading” and the noise prevented him getting his work done in the time it usually takes him.

Giving evidence about the events of March 20, Mr Rivington told the court he heard loud music from 9am to 5pm.

During cross-examination, Bray said they had no amplifiers from about 12.30pm.

Bray denies the charge and the trial continues.