Kneecap will tonight headline a major festival at Brockwell Park just days after one of the members were charged by the Metropolitan Police with a terror offence
Kneecap are going ahead with headlining a festival, two days after a member was charged with a terror offence.
Liam O’Hanna, who uses the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged over the alleged display of a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday. The group from Belfast, who rap in the Irish language, have a headline slot at Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park, south London, on Friday night.
It comes after they held a surprise gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street on Thursday, where O’Hanna could be seen in videos on social media arriving on stage with tape covering his mouth.
He then joked about being careful what he said before saying he wanted to thank his lawyer. He said: “I need to thank my lawyer, he’s here tonight as well.” Police said they were at the central London venue on Thursday evening to manage visitors to the sold-out event.
The band said on X that the event sold out in 90 seconds, with 2,000 people on the waiting list. On Monday, a spokesperson for several planned music festivals due to take place in Brockwell Park in Lambeth said none will be cancelled following a High Court ruling over planning permission.
Last week, Rebekah Shaman, a resident in the area and a member of the Protect Brockwell Park group, successfully brought legal action against Lambeth Council over the use of parts of the park for the festivals.
In a ruling last week, Mr Justice Mould said that the authority’s decision to certify the planned use of the land as lawful was “irrational”. Lawyers for Ms Shaman and the Protect Brockwell Park group wrote to the council following the ruling, asking it to “confirm that the event has been cancelled” and to clear any fencing or infrastructure, and stating that Brockwell Live did not have planning permission.
But on Monday, a spokesperson for Brockwell Live said that no events would be cancelled, with Lambeth Council confirming that the event’s organisers, Summer Events Limited, had reapplied for planning permission.
Earlier this week, O’Hanna was charged by postal requisition and will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on June 18, the Metropolitan Police confirmed. The band strongly deny the charges brought against O’Hanna. Taking to Instagram to issue a lengthy statement, the band said: “14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again, the British establishment is focused on us.
“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is. As they profit from genocide, they use an ‘anti-terror law’ against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage.
“A charge not serious enough to even warrant their ‘crown court’, instead a court that doesn’t have a jury. What’s the objective? To restrict our travel ability. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare to speak out.
“Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.
“We stand proudly with the people. You stand complicit with the war criminals. We are on the right side of history. You are not. We will fight you in court. We will win. Free Palestine.” Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on April 22 of an online video from the event, the force said.
An investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police said Kneecap were being investigated by counter-terrorism police after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.
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