How many police officers does it take to shut down a gospel singer? New video shows FIVE of the Met’s finest jobsworths threatening to arrest a Christian singer on Oxford Street as onlookers say: “Aren’t you trying to catch rapists and murderers?”
Shocking new footage has revealed it took five police officers to shut down a Gospel singer as she performed for fans on Oxford Street.
Harmonie London, 20, had been singing outside the John Lewis flagship store in London on Sunday when she was approached by volunteer police officer Maya Hadzhipetkova, who mistakenly told the busker she could not ‘sing hymns outside the church grounds’.
Scotland Yard has since apologized for the mishap, explaining that the alleged breach was due to unlicensed busking rather than the content of the songs she sang, adding that Hadzhipetkova is being investigated.
But now a new clip of the incident shows there were five other officers at the scene, with one of the officers heckled by a passerby who asked why the officers weren’t spending their time ‘catching murderers, rapists, murderers’ in instead of.
Onlookers criticized the Metropolitan Police for “wasting taxpayers’ money” and police resources and demanded an explanation as to why officers threatened to confiscate Harmonie’s equipment.
Harmonie London, 20, (pictured) had been singing outside the John Lewis flagship store in London on Sunday when she was approached by volunteer police officer Maya Hadzhipetkova
Scotland Yard has since apologized for the accident, explaining that the alleged breach was due to unlicensed busking
The Christian singer told MailOnline tonight that she felt ‘threatened’ by the five officers, adding that it was a ‘waste of police resources’ when the force continues to ‘say they are underfunded and crime is very high in London’.
Throughout the new clip, a police officer is approached by Harmonie’s videographer for sounding ‘very silly’, to which the male constables reply: ‘Hey YouTube, apparently I sound very silly’.
The woman is then heard telling the officer: ‘I’d rather you use our taxpayers’ money to catch murderers, rapists, pedophiles, but you’re here after a busker who really is a council problem, not yours.
‘All these officers are here wasting taxpayers’ money. This is an embarrassment to you and a waste of police time. And I don’t think that all the police officers here are happy about this.’
To which the unnamed officer replied: ‘I’m not after anyone, she’s leaving, I’m glad. If you were to walk away and stop engaging me in conversation, I would walk away too. You asked me to talk to you.’
When the film player again insists that the officers ‘should catch murderers, rapists, murderers’ instead of stopping buskers on the street, the officer sarcastically retorts: ‘In that case, the next time I hear about a murder, I’m going to do it.’
At the end of the video, the officer stuck his tongue out at the singer as she continued filming
Harmonie London is playing Christian music again today on Oxford Street in London
People watch and give money to Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
She goes on to chide the officers for ‘standing around and doing nothing’, instead of ‘catching people who aren’t even criminals’.
“Alright, so I’m going to catch some criminals?” the officer replies, before explaining that his job role is primarily about ‘preserving life’.
Revealing the new footage, Harmonie slammed the male officer for being ‘really condescending’, adding that ‘it was almost like he was saying how dare you tell me to fight a crime’.
She told MailOnline: ‘I packed away my equipment because they threatened to confiscate my equipment and I didn’t want to get in trouble with them because they didn’t listen to me.
‘It was quite aggressive and it was quite out of hand. I’ll be honest, I was really scared.
“It was all handled badly and it was just a waste of police resources. They say they are underfunded and crime is very high in London, so I think the resources could be put to better use.
‘It’s never happened before, but you feel threatened, it was threatening. I don’t see myself as a law breaker or a rebel. I am a law abiding citizen. I hope they leave me alone in the future.’
The singer added members of the public told her a woman had been robbed nearby on Oxford Street but police had done nothing, while they claimed another man had a mental breakdown at the same time but officers ‘saw him not even’.
– Someone said that a woman was robbed, but they were not interested in anything but me. Another person said there was a gentleman nearby having a mental breakdown and they didn’t even look at him.
The new footage comes just days after the first video emerged of Hadzhipetkova telling Harmonie she ‘wasn’t allowed to sing church songs outside the church grounds’ – before sticking her tongue out at the singer.
Harmonie, who was stopped by the officer while performing Amazing Grace, tried to protest his innocence to the officer, saying: ‘You are, you are (able to sing church songs).’
It caused a huge public backlash and led to the volunteer police officer – who also works at Costa Coffee – being accused of violating the musician’s human rights to freedom of expression and religion.
Harmonie London sets up her gear this afternoon as she performs on Oxford Street
People watch and give money to Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
A woman kneels on the pavement in worship during the singing of Harmonie London today
People watch and film singer Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
Hadzhipetkova’s stance drew widespread condemnation – including from former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who said “some people have a problem in this country with Christianity that they don’t seem to have with other faiths”.
Anti-crime campaigner Norman Brennan condemned the video as ‘not a good look’; Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams said it was ‘shocking’; and former Home Office special adviser Claire Pearsall urged police to ‘go and deal with actual crime’.
Harmonie, who has over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and regularly performs across the capital, said yesterday the situation left her ‘humiliated’, ‘upset’ and ‘bullied’.
The singer said that she has previously been visited by Jimmy Choo, Romeo Beckham and Rio Ferdinand – and sought out by Jay-Z and Cardi B as well as Sony Music.
Yesterday, the Met Police were forced to apologize to the singer, admitting they were wrong, after officers threatened to take away her instruments after a performance of Amazing Grace.
The force clarified that the alleged breach was due to unauthorized busking rather than the content of the songs she sang.
But they added: ‘The officer was wrong to say that hymns cannot be sung outside the church grounds.
‘We regret the offense caused and will take the learning further.’
The Met Police previously said: ‘We are aware of the significant social media comments relating to this incident. The clip shows 30 seconds of a 43-minute conversation, where the wider context is not immediately obvious.’
MailOnline has contacted the Met Police for comment.