Gospel performer told to drop religious songs by police officer
A VOLUNTEER police officer told a Christian singer she was forbidden from singing gospel songs “outside of church grounds”, before sticking her tongue out at her.
Gospel singer Harmonie London, who has almost 300,000 Instagram followers and more than 320,000 Youtube subscribers, regularly performs worship music on London’s Oxford Street.
In a video posted to her Instagram page on Sunday, Ms London filmed an apparent altercation between herself and a Metropolitan Police special constable, which is a volunteer role.
In the clip, the female officer tells her: “No miss, you’re not allowed to sing church songs outside of church grounds, by the way.”
She responds: “You are, you are, you are,” to which the officer insists that she could not sing “outside of church grounds unless you have been authorised by the church to do these kind of songs”.
Ms London replies: “That’s a load of rubbish, you’re allowed.”
However, the officer can be seen walking away while another adds: “She’s not saying anything any more, thank you for your time.”
The singer asks: “Are you saying that you don’t care about the Human Rights Act?”
She then accuses her of “laughing” and the officer then sticks her tongue out at her camera as she filmed.
Posting online, she titled the footage: “Unpaid volunteer officer doesn’t like gospel songs” alongside the caption: “Special constables are volunteer police officers who invest their free time to make a real difference to our city. You will get a tremendous amount of pride from giving back to the community.”
Responding to the incident, Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: “One of my favourite things as I commute to work is to hear Harmonie’s beautiful worship. It is shocking that she has been treated like this.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “This was filmed in Oxford Street over the weekend. We’re working to understand the context in which these comments were made.”