GLASTONBURY: Two acts at Britain’s premier music festival have invoked the authorities ire for raising political slogans. Irish rap trio Kneecap took aim at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a defiant performance, while Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan chanted against the Israeli military.
Kneecap has made headlines in recent months with their pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance.
In front of thousands of fans, many waving Palestinian flags, Kneecap led the crowd in chants against the UK PM.
“Glastonbury, I’m a free man”, said member Liam O’Hanna, who appeared in court earlier this month accused of having displayed a Hezbollah flag while saying “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” after a video resurfaced of a London concert last year.
The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK, and it is an offence to express support for them.
O’Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, has denied the charge.
“This situation can be quite stressful but it’s minimal compared to what the Palestinian people are (facing),” said O’Hanna, wearing his trademark keffiyeh.
O’Hanna also gave “a shout out” to Palestine Action Group, which interior minister Yvette Cooper announced last week would become a banned group under the Terrorism Act of 2000.
Fellow band member DJ Provai wore a t-shirt dedicated to the campaign group, whose prohibition comes after its activists broke into a British Royal Air Force base and vandalised two planes.
“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation,” Avon and Somerset Police, in western England where the festival is held, said on X late on Saturday.
But organisers have defied government criticism, who had said it was not “appropriate” for Kneecap to perform at Glastonbury.
“People that don’t like the politics of the event can go somewhere else,” Michael Eavis, co-founder of the festival said in an article published in a free newspaper for festival-goers.
‘Death to IDF’
Before Kneecap took to the stage, rap punk duo Bob Vylan led the crowd in chants of “Death, death to the IDF”, a reference to the Israeli Defence Forces.
They were broadcast live on the BBC, which airs coverage of Britain’s most popular music festival.
A spokesperson for the BBC said Vylan’s comments were “deeply offensive” and the broadcaster had “no plans” to make the performance available on its on-demand service.
The UK government also “strongly condemned” Bob Vylan’s chants, while the Israel embassy said it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival”.
Wes Streeting, the Labour’s government’s health secretary, termed the chants apalling, but also lashed out at Israel, telling it to “get your own house in order”.
“I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously,” he said.
Festival-goer Joe McCabe, 31, said that while he did not necessarily agree with Vylan’s statement, “I certainly think the message of questioning what’s going on there (in Gaza) is right.”
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2025