{"id":123494,"date":"2025-05-22T20:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T20:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123494\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T20:59:11","slug":"kneecaps-surprise-london-performance-begins-a-day-after-terror-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123494\/","title":{"rendered":"Kneecap\u2019s surprise London performance begins a day after terror charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rap trio Kneecap\u2019s surprise performance has begun in London, a day after one of their members was charged with a terror offence.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, had 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.<\/p>\n

The group from Belfast, who rap in the Irish language, announced they would perform at the 100 Club on Oxford Street on Thursday evening, ahead of their headline slot at Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park, south London, on Friday night.<\/p>\n

O hAnnaidh arrived at the central London venue on Thursday in a silver Mercedes and happily posed for a photographer.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police said: \u201cA policing plan is in place around tonight\u2019s event to ensure it passes off safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is primarily in terms of managing visitors to the venue for what we understand is a spontaneous and sold-out event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been no issues or arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least three officers were seen entering the venue while others were outside.<\/p>\n

The band said on X that the event sold out in 90 seconds, with 2,000 people on the waiting list.<\/p>\n

\"Surprise<\/p>\n

Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh arrives at the 100 Club for the rap trio\u2019s surprise gig (James Manning\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

In a post on social media earlier announcing the gig, Kneecap said: \u201cLondon. We\u2019re back. See you at The 100 Club tonight \u2013 tickets on sale in one hour at 4pm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post contained a quote from former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon who told ITV\u2019s Good Morning Britain (GMB) \u201cmaybe they need a bloody good kneecapping\u201d in response to the \u201ckill your MP\u201d footage.<\/p>\n

The venue confirmed the gig in a social media post and said doors to the event will open at 7.30pm.<\/p>\n

O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged by postal requisition and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on June 18, the Metropolitan Police said.<\/p>\n

In response to the charge, the group said in a social media statement: \u201c14,000 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deny this \u2018offence\u2019 and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an \u2018anti-terror law\u2019 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\u2019t have a jury. What\u2019s the objective?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officers from the Met\u2019s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on April 22 of an online video from the event, police said.<\/p>\n

An investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cup Hamas, up Hezbollah\u201d.<\/p>\n

The rap trio have had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged but are still listed to headline Wide Awake.<\/p>\n

\"IFTA<\/p>\n

Kneecap are due to perform at Wide Awake on Friday (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

They apologised last month to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been \u201cexploited and weaponised\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also said they have \u201cnever supported\u201d Hamas or Hezbollah, which are banned in the UK.<\/p>\n

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Kneecap to be banned while other politicians pushed for the group to be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the band released an eponymous film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender which is a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and follows the Belfast group on their mission to save their mother tongue through music.<\/p>\n

Formed in 2017, the group \u2013 made up of\u00a0O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh \u2013 are known for their provocative lyrics and merchandise as well as their championing of the Irish language.<\/p>\n

Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rap trio Kneecap\u2019s surprise performance has begun in London, a day after one of their members was charged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,836,28538,257,135,16,15,54894],"class_list":{"0":"post-123494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-hezbollah","12":"tag-kneecap","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-metropolitan-police","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wide-awake"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114553498152710508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}