Bob Vylan respond after Metropolitan Police launches new investigation after Al Quds Day
Bob Vylan have responded after it was announced that the Metropolitan Police are launching a fresh investigation.
The duo’s Bobby Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, appeared at the Al Quds Day demonstration in London on March 15th, in which he made a speech and chanted “Death, death to the IDF,” in reference to the Israeli Defence Forces.
The band had previously chanted these words during their performance at Glastonbury last summer, leading to huge controversy and a similar criminal investigation by Avon and Somerset Police.
However, the police force subsequently announced in December that all charges had been dropped and no further action would be taken.
After the incident at the Al Quds Day march, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said (via ITV News): “We are aware of chanting made by a speaker at the Al Quds protest and will be investigating. We recognise the concern footage and chanting like this causes, particularly with London’s Jewish communities.”
They added: “When this language had been used previously we sought advice from the CPS who determined that there would be insufficient evidence to take a case forward.”
In response to the new investigation, Bob Vylan have made a series of posts on X, including Robinson-Foster’s posting his full nearly six-minute speech, as he said, “The news wants to focus on a chant to detract from the more important message.”
In the speech, he slammed the British government after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood attempted to ban the march to “prevent serious public disorder”, with the musician opening by saying, “They try to characterise these marches and protests as hateful.”
Robinson-Foster also made a separate post on X on March 16th, directed towards the Metropolitan Police, which said: “Let me get this straight, you lot are going to investigate me for something I’ve already been investigated for, twice, by two separate forces (you were one of them) which both resulted in no further action? Did Mark Rowley get a call from some of his friends?”
The Crown Prosecution Service said it was aware of the police’s new investigation, and noted in a statement: “Some offences can be context specific and where the evidence is not sufficient, we will work with police to identify what more can be done to meet the threshold for charging.”
It added: “Hateful chanting or waving of offensive flags may constitute an offence and where behaviour goes beyond lawful protest we will not hesitate to prosecute.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.