A few seconds of happening, whistles and “anti -Semites outside our festivals” soft above the crowd. During the very high surveillance concert of the Northern Ireland group, Kneecap, accused of supporting Hezbollah, several people belonging to the group “We will live”, committed against anti -Semitism, tried this Sunday to interrupt the show, but were quickly evacuated by security.
“Someone wants to prevent us from touching, says the singer, while the crowd shouts” liberates Palestine “in English. It is that love, it is support for Palestine.” “They tried to turn from the poster, they hoped it would be angry. They believe we are as violent as they are wrong,” add another trio member before continuing the concert.
During the concert, Kneecap spoke several times the situation in the Middle East and reaffirmed his support for the Palestinians: “Netanyahu is a war criminal” and “if you do not call him genocide, what are you calling this?” He launched one of the members.
“Free Palestine, free!” He also shouted at the group, by Arangar to an enthusiastic crowd where Keffiehs and Irish shirts were visible. Then delay: “We are not against Israel, I know we are angry, but we are only here to have fun.”
Complaint against two festival attendees
The protesters were former festival after this happened. “The Metro accompanied us by the subway, for our security, because it was violent around us,” said Benjamin Cymerman, vice president of the group that we will live in the Parisian.
“We have identified two people against whom we are going to file a complaint,” he added. We would have liked to stop the concert, but at least we are satisfied to have interrupted it. We have nothing against artists who want a free Palestine. We are also supporters of two states. But we fight against anti -Semitism and believe that this group that supports Hezbollah does not take place at festivals. “
Long controversy
For several months, the Belfast Group has been under the focus since it has become accustomed to making its shows a forum for the Palestinian cause in the context of the war in the Gaza Strip and that one of the trio members, Liam O’Hanna Dit Mo Chara, is prosecuted by “terrorist offense.”
During a concert in London in 2024, he was covered with a flag of Hezbollah, a Pro-Iranni Lebanese movement, a jury enemy of Israel, classified “terrorist” in the United Kingdom. He had also shouted: “Go to Hamas! See the Hezbollah!” Mo Chara appeared last Wednesday in the British capital and then left, the decision was postponed on September 26.
These judicial episodes do not prevent the group from continuing their tour of the closed window, as in Glastonbury at the end of June, where he accused Israel of being a “war criminal” state. On the other hand, he was deprived of the Sziget festival in Budapest, after the prohibition of entry to the territory provided by the Hungarian government, near Israel.
Intelligent concert
The presence of Rotula in Rock in Seine has also aroused strong criticisms in France. Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish institutions in France (CRIF), requested in particular the deprogramming of the group last week. “They define the memory of the 50 French victims of Hamas on October 7 as of all the French victims of Hezbollah,” he denounced in X.
The city of Saint-Cloud also withdrew its subsidy for the first time 40,000 euros at the Festival in July. The Ile-de-France region did the same, canceling its help at the end of the week for the 2025 edition. Its envelope amounted to 295,000 euros in 2024, to which 150,000 euros are added in indirect aid through the purchase of tickets.
However, the disconnection of these communities does not imply the feasibility of the festival, whose budget is between 16 and 17 million euros this year.
“This is a supposed option,” said Matthieu Ducos, director of the Festival with BFMTV. “Following their positions, controversies, but especially for their clarifications, about what their messages were, what they supported and what they rejected, in this case terrorism, violence against civilians, comforted us in the idea that it was a group that had its place at the festival.”
Source: BFM TV
