Tourists from China threatened London pianist with “prosecution” (8 photos + 1 video)

On January 20, Brendan Kavanagh filmed himself playing the piano at St Pancras Station in London. His speech was suddenly interrupted by a group of tourists from China.





Brendan, who regularly comes to the station to perform boogie-woogie tunes, was first approached by a woman. She told him that her team worked for a Chinese television company, and then asked if she was in the picture.



The Chinese woman said she forbids her group to be filmed. Soon, self-proclaimed television workers gathered around Brendan, who repeatedly explained to them that he was allowed to film because they were in a public place.

“We are in the UK. We are not in China,” the pianist asserted when guests of the British capital demanded that the footage with their faces be removed.





At one point, a man from the group exclaimed: “This is our right, which we defend. We signed an agreement that we cannot be shown on the Internet.”

The musician replied: "We are a free country. This is not communist China." And then he invited the tourists to leave if they did not want to appear on his broadcast.

The indignant Chinese threatened: “I will sue. This is the end of the conversation.”



The situation only escalated when the pianist was accused of "trying to touch" one of the women. Although Brendan apparently pointed to the Chinese flag she was holding.

The tourist shouted: "Why are you touching her? Stop touching her. Don't touch her. You are not the same age. Don't touch her."

The Briton tried to justify himself by saying that he had only touched the flag, and then repeatedly pointed to small Chinese flags, which he said were communist.

He was advised to “enlighten himself” because the Communist Party flag was different.



The woman who was allegedly touched by the pianist said she was "here to celebrate the New Year" and did not want to be filmed.

A passerby invited tourists to leave the station if they did not like the filming. Eventually the police intervened.



The officer confirmed that members of the public and media do not need permission to film in public places.



"They [the tourists] asked that the video of them be removed and not used on your channel [...]. They work for the company and their faces cannot be shown on TV or on the Internet," the officer told Brendan.

The musician addressed his viewers, whose number exceeded 4 million people: “The Chinese Communist Party forbade us to film.”



The situation was over when the tourists and police left. Brendan then continued his broadcast, declaring: "Freedom of speech has prevailed."