Stop Brexit Man says playing music is ‘part of fundamental right to protest’
Photo Jeff Moore/PA Wire
An activist known as Stop Brexit Man said playing music outside Parliament is “part of our fundamental right to protest” as he faces a criminal trial.
Steve Bray, 55, was due be tried on Monday over allegations he flouted a police ban this March by putting amplifiers on a traffic island in Parliament Street, London.
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 Rishi Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain this May.
Direction
He appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Monday after pleading not guilty to 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” in August.
Bray, who had four supporters sitting in the public gallery, said he had been playing a song one of his supporters wrote about Rishi Sunak to the tune of The Muppet Show Theme.
Bray, representing himself, told the court: “I am still doing what I have always done
“We have tunes which are relevant to our protest and are played very sporadically.
“It is not like we are blasting all day.
“It is part of our fundamental right to protest.”
Evidence
The court heard the trial could not go ahead on Monday as the activist was not served the prosecution’s evidence until Saturday.
Deputy District Judge Julia Moffatt told prosecutor Rhianne Neil: “Clearly you haven’t complied with your obligations today in terms of serving your evidence within the timing.
“Mr Bray is entitled to time to consider that evidence.”
Bray, who had been wearing his trademark blue and yellow Why Brexit hat outside, did not wear it in court.
He was released on unconditional bail and his trial was adjourned to April 10 2025.
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No case to answer.
Everyone has the right to protest.
If the only evidence is loud music through amplifiers in the centre of a London then anyone more than a few metres away would not even be able to hear it for the London traffic consisting of old combustion junk vehicles struggling around the city centre while also polluting the area.
Clark of Kent should have stuck him in the house of lords…
Spoke with him one day outside Westminster. He struck me as a bright and committed individual. He said that he was upset that people in Wales voted for Brexit, and particularly those in Port Talbot who did so.