A singer captured the shocking moment a volunteer police officer stuck out her tongue at her as she challenged her claim that people cannot sing religious songs without church permission.
Harmonie London, 20, regularly performs gospel songs on Oxford Street, west London, and has amassed a loyal following thanks to her videos posted on social media.
The singer has hundreds of thousands of followers, with 289,000 on Instagram and a further 200,000 on YouTube.
While she has traditionally played her music unimpeded, she was recently told by a Met Police officer that she would need permission to play her usual lineup.
Her latest video shows an unusual exchange between herself and a voluntary officer after she was challenged over the weekend.
The video, which was posted on Sunday, January 28, shows the singer busking at her usual spot outside John Lewis’ flagship Oxford Street store, which is a council-regulated zone reserved for buskers and street entertainers.
There are no laws barring singing on the pavement – religious or otherwise – but, in the video, the unnamed Met Police voluntary officer tells Ms London she is “not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds”.
The singer hit back, protesting her innocence and saying people can sing church songs in public.
Before starting to walk off, the officer added that people can only sing church songs “outside of church grounds” if they have “been authorised by the church to do these kinds of songs”.
The video ended with Ms London asking the officers whether they cared about the Human Rights Act, a reference to the Human Rights Act 1998, which protects people’s right to freedom of thought, belief and religion.
The singer followed the officer, whom she accused of “laughing”, but was shocked to find the volunteer turn and stick her tongue out at the camera.
The video, which has now garnered thousands of likes and comments, caused a stir online, with Ms London titling the footage: “Unpaid Volunteer Officer Doesn’t Like Gospel Songs.”
But she did not name nor call out the officer, saying in the caption that special constables are “volunteer police officers who invest their free time to make a real difference to our city”.
Scotland Yard confirmed in a statement to MailOnline that the video was filmed on Oxford Street over the weekend.
The force added that officers are “working to understand the context in which these comments were made”, and that it would issue an update “as soon as we can”.
