Court ruled Steve Bray’s anti-Tory and anti-Brexit protest featuring The Muppet Show and Darth Vader themes was lawful expression of his views
An activist known as Stop Brexit Man has been cleared of flouting a police ban after playing anti-Conservative and anti-Brexit edits of The Muppet Show and Darth Vader’s theme outside parliament.
Steve Bray, 56, was playing music on 20 March last year before the then prime minister, Rishi Sunak, arrived for prime minister’s questions.
On Monday, Bray was found not guilty of 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” at Westminster magistrates court.
After the verdict, the defendant, wearing a blue and white short-sleeved shirt, looked at his supporters in the public gallery, one of whom gave him a thumbs up.
Police approached Bray on the traffic island at about 11.20am, minutes before Sunak arrived ahead of prime minister’s questions, and handed him a map and a notice that warned he was prohibited from playing the speakers in the controlled area under a bylaw, the court heard.
The music resumed intermittently, and shortly after 12.33pm officers seized the speakers, his trial at City of London magistrates court was told.
Bray, from Port Talbot, south Wales, who represented himself, denied the charge and told a previous hearing that playing music was part of his “fundamental right to protest” and that it was played “sporadically”, rather than all day.
Handing down his judgment, the deputy district judge Anthony Woodcock said of Bray: “He admitted that he is ‘anti-Tory’, which is his words. He believes his is an important message to disseminate. He needs the volume that he uses to get the message across from Parliament Street to the Palace of Westminster.”
Woodcock continued: “He says that his strategy needs pictures of him in the media and he’s spent many hours campaigning and has never been arrested, his relations with police are generally good.”
The judge added: “His equipment operates on battery power and is limited.”
Of the issues Bray protests about, the judge continued: “He is described, virtually accused of being ‘fixated’ – he’s entitled to be. How he chooses to express those views is a matter for him.”
He added: “Lampooning the government through satire is a long tradition in this country.”
The Muppets and Darth Vader themes had been used “as the prime minister came in, which is what we always did for Rishi – apparently he’s a Star Wars fan”, Bray had previously told the court.
Bray had told police their map illustrating where he could not use the speakers was incorrect, the court heard.
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.
Several witnesses described to the court the negative impact of Bray’s music, heard as high as the sixth floor in nearby buildings, after which the defendant apologised.
Bray 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 Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain last May.
‘Stop Brexit Man’ cleared of flouting ban on playing music outside parliament – The Guardian
