Moment volunteer cop tells Christian singer she is 'not allowed to sing church songs outside church'

29 January 2024, 13:42 | Updated: 29 January 2024, 13:54

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

A volunteer police officer has sparked anger after telling a Christian singer that she is "not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds".

Harmonie London, a 20-year-old gospel signer, regularly performs in central London, as well as to her 300,000-strong YouTube following.

But over the weekend, she was stopped by a Metropolitan Police special constable, who told her: "No miss, you're not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds, by the way."

The confrontation took place outside John Lewis on Oxford Street, where Ms London defended her right to sing the songs.

She hit back: "You are, you are, you are."

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A post shared by 🇬🇧Harmonie London (@harmonieldn)

But the officer told the gospel singer she could not sing "outside of church grounds unless you have been authorised by the church to do these kind of songs".

She went on: "That's a load of rubbish, you're allowed" - before the officer walked away.

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The singer continued: "Are you saying that you don't care about the Human Rights Act?" - before accusing her of 'laughing'.

This prompted the volunteer officer to stick her tongue out at the singer.

The video, which is titled 'Unpaid Volunteer Officer Doesn't Like Gospel Songs', has sparked a backlash online.

Former police officer and anti-crime campaigner Norman Brennan tweeted: "Folks, this is not a good look. Some of us are trying hard to help policing get back public lost support respect and confidence and this does not help."

Another person said: "Do they receive any training on law or do they make it up?"

A third asked: "Where on earth has she got this rubbish from?"

Busking is allowed in certain, regulated areas in central London where singers can performed "in designated pitches".

The Metropolitan Police said it was "working to understand the context in which these comments were made".