A MUSICIAN’S plans for a Beatles-style rooftop performance in York’s Coney Street – intended to call for troops to make a safe and peaceful return home from Afghanistan – have been abandoned.

The event was being planned for this Saturday by Steve “Ze Suicide” Roberts, a former drummer with punk band UK Subs, whose soldier brother, Company Sergeant Major Warrant Officer 2 James “Harry” Roberts of Haxby, died last year after earlier being injured in blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stevie said he had wanted to stage a “fifteen minute sing” for British troops at 12 noon on Armed Forces Day this Saturday, to supplement the traditional one minutes silence.

He said: “I hoped to perform two or three songs on the rooftop of a top building in Coney Street at the height of a major shopping day, so shoppers can stop and sing along to John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance’ for all our troops to hear and see over there, to let them know we are all here for them, and love them.

“The whole concept is to emulate the famous rooftop appearance by the Beatles over 42 years ago, kicking off with the same song they started with on that day, ‘Get Back,’ followed by Give Peace a Chance.”

He claimed the event had been cancelled after opposition from City of York Council and police, despite initial support for the idea. He understood the authorities had believed it would be an anti-war protest, but he said this was not so.

He said he now planned to revive the idea in another British city, and still hoped it could become an annual event in cities across the country.

Sally Burns, director of Communities and Neighbourhoods at the council, said: “While we were supportive of Stevie’s intentions, our priority, and that of the police, is to ensure the health and safety of those taking part in events and members of the public.”