London
Cnn
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The Irish Hip Hop trio is investigated by the British police in the fight against terrorism after videos emerged showing that the group called politicians to kill and shout “Hamas, Hezbollah.”
This comes after the group, which are vocal criticism of the War of Israel in Gaza, was criticized for their proletinian and anti-Israeli message at the Coachella music festival last month.
The British police investigation follows many criticisms of the group’s alleged comments, which led to the cancellation of several of their next concerts. Some legislators also call Glastonbury’s organizers to drop the Rabate from the programming of the festival next month.
Meanwhile, dozens of musicians and artists have signed an open letter supporting the right of the group to freedom of expression.
In recent days, images have circulated online that seems to show one of the members of the group shouting “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” in November of last year. In addition, the video of November 2023 seemed to show a member of the group, who is from Northern Ireland, saying: “The only good curator is a dead Tory. Kill your local deputy.” Tory is another word for the curator, and MP is an abbreviation of the deputy. Over the past decade, two British deputies – Jo Cox and David Amess – have been murdered.
The patella apologized to the families of Cox and Aumess. He said he had never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and that online circulating images were “deliberately withdrawn from any context” as part of a “smear campaign” following their critic of Israel and the United States with regard to war in Gaza.
The London Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement on Thursday that he was aware of the images and that the agents of the fight against terrorism investigated.
“The two videos have been referred to the Internet reference unit against terrorism for evaluation by specialized officers, who determined that there are reasons for a more in -depth investigation into potential offenses linked to the two videos,” the police press release said.
Katie Amess, daughter of the conservative legislator David Amess, who was fatally stabbed during an attack in 2021 during her meeting with her voters, qualified Knececap’s rhetoric as “unpleasant”.
“(IT) constitutes a direct threat to the security and well-being of elected officials and the democratic institutions they represent,” she said in a statement provided to the AP media news agency.
Amercitus congratulated the measures taken by the police and called on those who encourage “violence and hatred” to be held responsible.
“As a society, we must unite against all forms of extremism and ensure that our public spaces, including artistic and cultural places, are not exploited to propagate messages of hatred,” said Amess.
The two videos were widely broadcast online following the group’s coachella ensemble, where they led the crowd to sing “freely free from Palestine”, criticized the Israel campaign in Gaza – who killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health – and also criticized American war.
CNN contacted Knecap management to comment.
Brendan Cox, whose woman was stabbed and killed in 2016 by an extreme extremist of the far right while he met his voters, told Sky News that the group’s apology were “not sufficient”.
“What is clear (about video) is that it was not a joke, that it was not out of context, that it was an incentive to violence against deputies,” he said. Cox added that the ball joint comments “have surpassed the brand in a frankly grotesque manner”, putting them “bad side of people who could agree with them” on questions, such as Gaza and Northern Ireland.
Since the videos emerged, a planned performance chain of the group has been canceled.
The group declared on X that he would not perform at the Hurricane or the Southside Festival this year – two of the biggest German music festivals – and announced three concerts in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, which have since been canceled since.
Another concert planned for the Eden project in Cornwall, in the southwest of England, has been canceled.
The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, told ITV News on Wednesday that she thought that the group should be prosecuted for incentive. “There are people in prison for having said things that are not as bad as what the ball joints said … They have avoided justice for too long,” she told the diffuser.
Group supporters
Others have left the group’s support, several artists signing an open letter calling for the “clear and concerted attempt to censor and, ultimately, moving” the group.
“In a democracy, no political personality or political party should have the right to dictate who does and does not play in music festivals or concerts which will be appreciated by thousands of people”, reads the letter, which was signed by musicians such as Pulp, Paul Weller and a massive attack.
“The ball joint is not history. Gaza is history. The genocide is history,” wrote the group on X, echoing a declaration of support distinct from a massive attack.
The manager of Knececap, Daniel Lambert, told the Irish broadcaster on Tuesday that the controversy “had nothing to do with the patella … It is to tell the next young group … that you cannot talk about Palestine”.
