A longtime anti-Brexit and anti-Tory protester thinks he's found a loophole in Priti Patel's crackdown on demonstrations outside Parliament.
Steve Bray has been a constant feature in Westminster, holding almost daily demonstrations outside the Houses of Parliament for the last six years.
Police seized two speakers from his protest on a traffic island on the corner of Whitehall yesterday, after the new Policing Act expanded the size of a prohibited area where such devices are banned.
It's understood Mr Bray had been told by officers that if he persisted in using his amplified speakers today, he risked being arrested.
But today MPs were treated to an extract from Mr Bray's usual playlist - a Boris Johnson-themed reimagining of It's My Party, made famous by 60's singer Lesley Gore.
Mr Bray, 53, from Port Talbot, south Wales, said he believed he'd found a way round the new law - by blasting his music out from "private property."
Opposite Parliament is a vacant building, which until February was a branch of Boots.
Mr Bray set up his speaker on pavement outside the boarded-up shop, but behind the line where the public pavement begins.
"If the amp was here, that would be deemed illegal and they would seize my equipment," he said, stepping onto the public walkway.
But stepping behind the line, under an archway, he said: "But the amp here is on private property, off the Parliamentary area, and it's fine."
He added: "It's actually better here, because we've got a nice reverb."
Several police officers were nearby when Mr Bray played the song, but there was no move to arrest him. He has since moved back to his usual position on the traffic island, where his protest continues unamplified.
The Tories' new law, which took effect yesterday extended the 'controlled area' where things like sleeping in a tent are restricted to a further distance around Westminster to include Parliament Square and Parliament Street.
Jun Pang of Liberty said yesterday: “Protests are by nature ‘noisy’ and ‘disruptive’. It is very worrying the police have already started enforcing the broad powers within the Policing Act in such a heavy-handed and punitive way.
As the Government tries to push through further attacks on protest in the Public Order Bill and the Rights Removal Bill, we must all oppose these measures that will make it much harder for us all to stand up for what we believe in.”
Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK's policing expert, said yesterday: “The measures taken against Steve Bray are likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
“Unfortunately, we fear there is now going to be a cascade of cases where people are being prevented from legitimate protest on grounds that are both petty and punitive.
“The deeply authoritarian new policing laws are a charter for the suppression of legitimate protest – a dark day for liberty in our country and something we need to see repealed as soon as possible.”
Mr Bray has for years played protest songs on a loudspeaker in Parliament Square, within earshot of MPs’ and journalists’ offices. They include ‘Bye Bye Boris’, to the tune of Bye Bye Baby by the Bay City Rollers.
The new law says any direction given by the senior police officer imposing conditions on a protest “must be set out in writing.”
Once those conditions have been set, a protester can then be arrested if they “fail to comply with any conditions they knew or ought to have known had been imposed.”
People found guilty of flouting this restriction can be jailed for up to six months or given an unlimited fine.
Other clauses coming into effect today include the power for police to restrict larger protests and marches; an offence of blocking vehicle access to Parliament; “intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance”; and a ban on “unauthorised encampments” by protesters.
