[HeatStreet] A British police officer called for reinforcements, including a helicopter, after getting offended by a parody song mocking the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden being played at a garden party.Initially, only one police officer was sent to the street around 10 p.m. to respond to a neighbor's complaint about the loud music and alleged anti-Islamic shouting at the garden party, Cambridge News reported.
But after she overheard the song mocking former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the party, the policewoman hit the "panic button" on her body-mounted camera. In response to the call for support, the local police sent another 10 officers and a police helicopter.
The party-goers denied shouting "anti-Islamic abuse" and said the policewoman "took offense" at the parody song being played, prompting her to call up the unnecessary reinforcements.
One party attendee, Mark Donovan, spoke with the news outlet following the incident, saying: "We were having a summer's evening in my neighbor's garden as we don't have one. We had our karaoke machine on playing music through our phones from YouTube, which are all approved songs.
"It was about 10 p.m. and the music may have been a little loud, but it was before 11 p.m. Someone must have made a complaint, and a police officer attended our address, at which time a song from YouTube called ‘the Bin Laden Song' came on.
"This police officer said she took offense at the song and pressed her panic button on her body cam and that's when about 10 police turned up and the police helicopter.
"They are now investigating it as a racist crime. It is ridiculous."
Police have not made any arrests but have confiscated a phone and a karaoke machine. An investigation is ongoing.
Donovan continued: "This is music which is well known which was put on YouTube when Bin Laden was killed by the British and American army. In the music there is no reference to color, race or religion.
"The police then threatened to arrest everyone if we didn't hand over our karaoke machine and mobile phone.
"At no point were we asked to turn it down or off, and not one member of the public complained about what we were playing, only the level of the volume. If we had been asked to turn it down, we would have.
"In fact, I turned it off on seeing the police officer.
"Our son is black, my brother and sister are black, my brother is in the American army.
"It just seems a bit extreme to have 10 police officers and helicopter attend over a song which is approved by YouTube which we never actually put on. It came on by the shuffle list, and now being investigated as a racial offense, the only person who took offense was the female police officer, and it's not even a racist song.
"Is this not a waste of police resources and public money when no crime was reported?"
The local police spokesperson confirmed to the paper that there's an ongoing investigation on basis of "incitement of racial hatred."
I guess we now know where the British outrage about the Manchester incident is going?
