2 weeks Ago By Bryony Gooch
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 March 20 last year before then-prime minister Rishi Sunak arrived for Prime Minister's Questions. Police had approached Mr Bray when he was stood on a traffic island at around 11.
20am, and handed him a map to warn him he wasn’t allowed to play the speakers in the controlled area under a by-law, the court heard. He resumed playing the music intermittently and, over an hour later, officers seized the speakers. Mr 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. Mr Bray, of Port Talbot, South Wales, represented himself in court and denied the charge. He told a previous hearing that playing music was part of his “fundamental right ot protest” and that they were played “sporadically”, rather than all day.
The court previously heard that Mr Bray had told the police their map, illustrating where he could not use the speakers, was incorrect. Body-worn footage, featuring the activist, saw him telling police repeatedly that they had the wrong map. He said it was outdated, which the officers would learn if they spoke to someone higher up the chain of command.
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