Sir Van Morrison has called for an end to lockdown measures which “enslave” people in a new song calling for coronavirus restrictions to be lifted.
The musician, 75, is releasing a trio of protest songs calling for an end to rules aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus.
His song No More Lockdown labels those who are “disturbing our peace” as “fascist bullies”.
The lyrics also include reference to an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that scientists are “making up crooked facts”.
He criticised celebrities “telling us what we are supposed to feel” as he called for an end to the “status quo”.
In a statement, Sir Van said: “I’m not telling people what to do or think, the Government is doing a great job of that already.
“It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.”
He is also releasing songs Born To Be Free and As I Walked Out.
The singer is set to perform the songs in his upcoming shows at the London Palladium.
Born To Be Free will be released on September 25, followed by the other two tracks next month.
On Thursday official figures showed 41,705 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus, although separate figures published by the statistics agencies show 57,500 cases where Covid-19 was mentioned on a death certificate.
On Thursday new lockdown restrictions were introduced in the north-east of England because of a rise in Covid-19 cases.