A pianist slammed bizarre demands from a group of Chinese tourists who asked not to be filmed as he performed at a busy London train station, claiming they tried to get his video taken down, and police got involved.
Brendan Kavanagh was filming a livestream session of himself playing the piano at London's St Pancras train station on Saturday (January 20) when his impressive performance was cut short by what appeared to be a group of Chinese tourists, as observed from their Chinese flags and red and yellow colored outfits.
Brendan, who regularly takes to the station to play boogie woogie tunes, was first approached by a woman belonging to the group, who informed him that they worked for a Chinese TV network before asking whether they appeared in his video.
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
The lady went on to warn him that filming them “wasn't allowed.” Soon after, the group of self-proclaimed TV workers gathered around Brendan, who repeatedly explained to them that he was allowed to film since they were in a public place.
According to the Metropolitan Police, members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places, and police have no power to stop them from filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.
“We are in Great Britain. We are not in China,” the pianist was seen arguing as the group of Chinese visitors continued to demand their faces not be put in the video.
At some point, a man from the group stepped up and exclaimed: “This is our right that we are protecting.” He further explained: “We have an agreement with other people that we cannot be shown online.”
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
Brendan tried to resonate with the frustrated group, saying: “We are a free country. This is not communist China,” before suggesting the group “walk away [since] it’s a public space” if they did not want to appear in his livestream.
However, the musician’s plea fell on deaf ears, as the angered man from the Chinese group threatened: “We will put legal action to it. This is the end of the conversation,” before adding: “We are protecting our image right[s].”
With Brendan repetitively arguing against the group of travelers, stating, “The UK is a free country,” the situation soon escalated after the pianist was accused of “trying to touch” one of the female members of the group after he seemingly pointed to the Chinese flag she was holding.
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
The vocal male member of the group suddenly started screaming: “Why are you touching her? Stop touching her. Don't touch her.”
He proceeded to add: “You are not the same age. Do not touch her.” The woman intervened and exclaimed: “Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him. What's the problem?”
A very confused Brendan attempted once again to defend himself by saying he had only touched the flag, before repeatedly pointing to the small Chinese flags, which he claimed were communist flags.
According to the South China Morning Post, each star on the Chinese flag has its own meaning, with the largest one representing the Communist Party.
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
Nevertheless, one of the members of the group exclaimed that Brendan should “educate” himself, as the flag is not a flag for the communist party.
The flag of the Communist Party of China (CPC) consists of a yellow hammer and sickle in the upper-left corner, with a red colored background, symbolizing revolution, as per the 19th CPC National Congress.
The woman the pianist had allegedly touched said she was “here to celebrate the new year” and didn't want to be filmed doing so.
The situation only took a turn for the worse when a pair of police officers approached the situation
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
A bystander eventually intervened and told the tourists to leave if they didn't like being filmed. But the situation only took a turn for the worse when a pair of police officers approached the situation.
A member of the Chinese group was seen telling a male officer that the pianist had filmed them and had asked him to remove the footage, which he had refused.
However, the police officer echoed Brendan’s initial reaction as he exclaimed: “You're in a public place.” A female officer reminded the cameraperson: “Excuse me, if we're having a police matter, you need to put that phone down.”
The UK Rules state that the police have no power to stop people filming or photographing officers on duty. Recording film footage of a police incident or taking photographs of their actions is not illegal.
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
Brendan went on to address his livestream viewers, who have since grown to more than 4 million, as the officers started to side with the tourists. He said: “The Chinese communist party told us not to film here.”
The female police officer was filmed warning the musician: “This is not to go on your channel by the way. This is me talking to you.” Brendan promptly interrupted and said: “Listen, we're in Britain. We're in a public space. It's a free country.”
The officer further explained: “The matter is they say you've been making communist comments at them.” Brendan went on to argue that he had only highlighted the fact that the group had been waving communist flags.
A police officer echoed Brendan’s initial reaction, as he exclaimed: "You're in a public place"
Image credits: Brendan Kavanagh
The officer continued to ask the musician about the allegation that he tried to touch one of the tourists, which he immediately denied by saying: “I was not trying to touch her. That's why I have a camera.”
The law enforcement said: “They [the tourists] have requested that the video where they approach gets deleted and is not used on your channel [...]
“They work for a company, and their faces cannot be shown on TV or on somebody's channel.”
The situation was finally put to rest as the group of Chinese tourists and the police officers left. Brendan was subsequently able to finish his livestream with more boogie-woogie songs after declaring: “Free speech prevails,” as per the DailyMail.
You can watch Brendan's livestream below:
In a follow-up video posted shortly after, Brendan revealed that the Chinese Communist Party was “trying to get [the footage] taken down” and pleaded for his viewers to make a copy of his livestream.
On Monday (January 22), Brendan uploaded a separate video to update his viewers, where he announced he would be interviewed by Mike Graham on TalkTV.
Brendan has since gone on to reveal on TalkTV that he believed MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, has since been involved.
