Steve Bray, <\/a>56, was playing music through the speakers on March 20, 2024, when then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived for Prime Minister\u2019s Questions.<\/p>\nHe has been found not guilty of failing without reasonable excuse to comply with a direction given under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 \u201cre prohibited activities in Parliament Square\u201d at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court.<\/p>\n
Following the verdict, he received a thumbs up from one of his supporter in the public gallery.<\/p>\n
![\"Steve](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%205577%203718'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\")
<\/p>\n
Steve Bray<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Bray was approached by police on the traffic island minutes before Sunak arrived ahead of Prime Minister\u2019s Questions on March 20 last year.<\/p>\n
Officers handed him a map and a notice that warned he was prohibited from playing the speakers in the controlled area under a by-law.<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old had been playing edits of the Muppet Show and Darth Vader\u2019s theme outside Parliament.<\/p>\n
An hour later, the music resumed and speakers seized his speakers.<\/p>\n
MORE LIKE THIS:<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Stop](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%206000%204000'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\")
<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old is known for playing music in protest around Westminster<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Bray, who represented himself, denied the charge and told a previous hearing that playing music was part of his \u201cfundamental right to protest\u201d and that they were played \u201csporadically\u201d, rather than all day.<\/p>\n
He said he used the Darth Vader theme as he heard Sunak is a “Star Wars fan\u201d, the activist told the court.<\/p>\n
At his previous trial, Bray said that he told police that their map was incorrect.<\/p>\n
Body-worn footage featured the 56-year-old repeatedly telling police \u201cyou\u2019ve got the wrong map\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bray, wearing a yellow and blue top hat, said it was outdated and that officers should ask someone more senior for confirmation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At his previous trial, Bray said that he told police that their map was incorrect<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
After being told he could not play his music here, he stuck his fingers in his ears and said: \u201cNo it\u2019s not, it\u2019s not, not here \u2013 it\u2019s not wrong here\u201d, the court heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what I can\u2019t do\u201d, he said, suggesting officers stick it \u201cwhere the sun don\u2019t shine\u201d before lighting a cigarette and looking away.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told the court that they were negatively impacted by Bray’s music, which they could hear whilst working in nearby buildings.<\/p>\n
Following the remarks, Bray apologised.<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old is known for playing music in protest around Westminster. Last year, he played D:Ream\u2019s Things Can Only Get Better at the gates of Downing Street <\/a>when Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An activist known as Stop Brexit Man has been cleared of flouting a police ban after playing anti-Conservative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,12,16,1259,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-32066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-uk-news","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114362859227140783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/steve-bray.jpg\")
![\"Stop](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/stop-brexit-man.jpg\")
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