A boogie-woogie piano player last night slammed police for siding with the ‘ludicrous’ demands made by flag-waving Chinese tourists not to film them while he recorded a livestream from London‘s St Pancras station.
Brendan Kavanagh, who goes by the name Dr K, called the bizarre incident ‘a comedy of errors’ that ‘raises a lot of serious issues about stupid rules, authoritarianism and also our own British culture’.
Video shared on his YouTube channel shows the musician playing piano in the busy station while the group of Chinese tourists stand in the background.
They later approach Kavanagh and ask him not to film them, with one of the women saying she works for Chinese TV.
Dr K refuses to stop filming, telling them ‘we are in Great Britain, we are not in China‘ and insisting he could continue his livestream because they were in a public place.
The incident then dramatically escalates, with one of the tourists then yelling at him after accusing Kavanagh of touching one of the women. The pianist denies this, saying he touched her flag.
Moments later, police officers descend – with one pulling Kavanagh to one side and asking him not to publish the video on YouTube. The musician repeatedly questions this, saying ‘we are in a free country’.
Speaking to TalkTV last night, Kavanagh said: ‘I thought blimey, we are in London town and I’ve got a bunch of Chinese people telling me what I can’t do. And I thought enough is enough.’
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