The Paris police chief told AFP on Friday that it opposed the ban, demanded by elected officials, of the concert scheduled for Sunday at the Zénith by the group Disturbed, whose singer is a fervent supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a letter addressed to elected officials, the police chief informed them “that the conditions to prohibit this event were not met; an attack of this type on freedom of expression can only be pronounced in light of restrictive conditions,” he said.
“The Disturbed group has committed to the Zénith not to make any comments contrary to the internal regulations of the room or the law,” he added. “If this were not the case, legal action would be taken,” the police chief warned.
The LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, Thomas Portes, had requested a ban on this concert which, according to him, constitutes “a direct threat to public order in our country.”
He recalled that, in June 2024, the group’s singer, David Draiman, went “on stage at an Israeli military base, signing a bomb ready to be dropped on Gaza.”
“A security device”
Communist senator Ian Brossat and socialist deputy Emmanuel Grégoire, both candidates for mayor of Paris, also called for the concert to be banned.
“A security system adapted to the event” will be implemented, the police chief said.
Disturbed, founded in 1994 in Chicago, became one of the most popular heavy metal bands of the 2000s thanks to their debut album “The Sickness” released in 2000, followed by “Believe” in 2002, both major commercial successes.
David Draiman, born in 1973 in New York, grew up in a Jewish family, some of whose members now live in Israel, and has often taken a public stance to denounce artists who call for a boycott of the country, such as Pink Floyd guitarist Roger Waters.
Source: BFM TV
