Shocking new footage has revealed it took five police officers to arrest a Gospel singer as she performed for fans in Oxford Street.
Harmonie London, 20, was singing outside the John Lewis flagship store in London on Sunday when she was approached by volunteer police officer Maya Hadzhipetkova, who wrongly told the busker that she was ‘not allowed to sing church songs outside the church grounds’.
Scotland Yard has since apologized for the accident, explaining that the alleged infringement was due to unlicensed street performers and not the content of the songs they sang, adding that Hadzhipetkova is under investigation.
But now a new clip of the incident shows that there were five other officers on the scene, with one of the officers being heckled by a passerby who asked why officers weren’t spending their time ‘catching murderers, rapists, killers’.
Onlookers condemned the Metropolitan Police for ‘wasting taxpayers’ money’ and police resources, and demanded an explanation as to why officers threatened to confiscate Harmonie’s equipment.
Harmonie London, 20, (pictured) was singing outside the John Lewis flagship store in London on Sunday when she was approached by volunteer police officer Maya Hadzhipetkova
Scotland Yard has since apologized for the accident, explaining that the alleged breach was due to unlicensed buskers
The Christian singer told MailOnline tonight that she felt ‘threatened’ by the five officers, adding that it was a ‘waste of police resources’ if the force continues to ‘say they are underfunded and that crime in London is very high is’.
In the new clip, a police officer is approached by Harmonie’s videographer because he sounds ‘very stupid’, to which the male officers respond: ‘Hello YouTube, I apparently sound very stupid’.
The woman is then heard telling the officer: ‘I would rather you use our taxpayers’ money to catch murderers, rapists and pedophiles, but you’re after a busker here, which is actually a council problem and not yours .
“All these cops here are wasting taxpayers’ money. This is an embarrassment to you and a waste of police time. And I don’t think all police officers are happy about this.’
To which the unnamed officer replied: ‘I’m not after anyone, she’s leaving, I’m happy about that. If you walked away and stopped talking to me, I would walk away too. You asked me to talk to you.”
When the filmmaker again insists that the officers should ‘arrest murderers, rapists and murderers’ instead of stopping buskers on the street, the officer sarcastically jokes back: ‘In that case, I’ll talk about it the next time I talk about a murder. .’
At the end of the video, the officer stuck her tongue out at the singer as she continued filming
Harmonie London is playing Christian music again today in Oxford Street in London
People are watching and giving money to Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
She continues to chide the officers for “sitting around and doing nothing,” instead “catching people who aren’t even criminals.”
“Okay, then I’m going to catch some criminals, okay?” the officer responds, before explaining that his job is primarily about ‘saving lives’.
Unveiling the new footage, Harmonie slammed the male officer for being “very condescending,” adding that “it was almost like he was saying, how dare you tell me to go fight a crime.”
She told MailOnline: ‘I packed my equipment because they threatened to confiscate my equipment and I didn’t want to get in trouble with them for not listening to me.
‘It was quite aggressive and it got quite out of hand. I’ll be honest, I was really scared.
‘The whole case was handled poorly and it was just a waste of police resources. They say they are underfunded and that crime in London is very high. That’s why I think the resources can be used in a better way.
‘It’s never happened before, but you feel threatened, it was threatening. I don’t see myself as a lawbreaker or a rebel. I am a law abiding citizen. I hope they leave me alone in the future.’
The singer added that members of the public told her that a woman had been robbed nearby on Oxford Street but that police had done nothing while they claimed another man had a nervous breakdown at the same time but that officers “didn’t even find him seen’.
‘Someone said a woman was being robbed, but he wasn’t interested in anything but me. Another person said there was a gentleman in the area who had a nervous breakdown and they weren’t even taking care of him.
The new footage comes days after the first video surfaced of Hadzhipetkova telling Harmonie that she was ‘not allowed to sing church songs outside the church grounds’ – before sticking her tongue out at the singer.
Harmonie, who was stopped by the officer during the performance of Amazing Grace, tried to protest her innocence to the officer by saying: ‘You are, you are [able to sing church songs].’
It caused a huge public backlash and led to the volunteer police officer – who also works at Costa Coffee – being accused of breaching the musician’s human right to freedom of expression and religion.
Harmonie London sets up their equipment this afternoon as they perform in Oxford Street
People are watching and giving money to Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
A woman kneels on the sidewalk while singing Harmonie London today
People watch and film singer Harmonie London as she performs on Oxford Street today
Hadzhipetkova’s stance drew widespread condemnation, including from former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who said that “some people in this country have a problem with Christianity that they don’t seem to have with other religions.”
Anti-crime activist Norman Brennan condemned the video as ‘not a good look’; Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams said it was ‘shocking’; and former Home Office special adviser Claire Pearsall called on police to ‘tackle the real crime’.
Harmonie, who has more than 300,000 subscribers on YouTube and regularly performs in the capital, said yesterday that she felt “humiliated”, “sad” and “bullied” by the situation.
The singer said she has previously been visited by Jimmy Choo, Romeo Beckham and Rio Ferdinand – and has been approached by Jay-Z and Cardi B as well as Sony Music.
Yesterday, police were forced to apologize to the singer as she admitted they were wrong after officers threatened to take away her instruments after a performance of Amazing Grace.
Police clarified that the alleged infringement was due to unlicensed buskers and not the content of the songs they sang.
But they added: ‘The officer was mistaken when he said that church songs should not be sung outside the church grounds.
“We are sorry for the offense caused and we will continue with the lessons.”
The Met Police previously said: ‘We are aware of the significant commentary on social media in relation to this incident. The fragment shows 30 seconds of a 43-minute conversation where the broader context is not immediately clear.’
MailOnline has contacted police for comment.