Rock en Seine: Kneecap’s concert attracts the controversy and vigilance of the authorities

The North Irish trio Kneecap, one of the members of which is continued by British justice for Hezbollah, is to give a concert under close surveillance on Sunday at the Rock en Seine festival, which claims its freedom of programming.

By inviting this Belfast group a few months ago, the organizers had not imagined that its presence would create such controversy. Because, by making each show a platform for the Palestinian cause, the artists spoke on them the light of the spotlights and the authorities.

One of the three members, Liam O’hanna dit Mo Chara, is continued for “terrorist offense” after having covered himself, during a concert in London in 2024, of a hezbollah flag. This Pro-Iranian Lebanese Islamist movement, an enemy of Israel, is classified terrorist in the United Kingdom.

Supported by hundreds of supporters, Liam O’hanna appeared in the British capital on Wednesday, then left, the decision being adjourned. These adventures do not prevent Kneecap from continuing his closed window tour, as in Glastonbury at the end of June, where he accused Israel of being a “war criminal” state. On the other hand, it was deprived of the Sziget festival in Budapest, after a ban on entry into the territory rendered by the Hungarian government, close to Israel.

“We have the assurance that the group will be held completely correctly,” said Matthieu Ducos, director of Rock en Seine, a few days before the festival. “It is a group which remains relatively confidential in France, but which has gained a lot in notoriety lately, for very good artistic reasons, but also all this controversy which has made it gained enormously in visibility and fans”.

In this context, the city of Saint-Cloud withdrew its subsidy from 40,000 euros to Rock en Seine, a first. The Ile-de-France Region also canceled its aid for the 2025 edition. The subsidy amounted to 295,000 euros in 2024, to which are added 150,000 euros in indirect aid through the purchase of tickets.

The disengagement of these communities does not, however, involve the viability of the festival, whose budget is between 16 and 17 million euros this year.

In France, Kneecap-“ball joint” in English, reference to the practice of the paramilitary militias which drove in the knees of their victims during the North Irish conflict-has already occurred this summer. Their concerts at the Eurockéennes de Belfort in early July and the Green Cabaret in Charleville-Mézières in mid-August took place without incident.

However, some voices rise to request their deprogramming. “They desecrate the memory of the 50 French victims of Hamas on October 7 as of all the French victims of Hezbollah,” said Yonathan Arfi, president of the representative council of the Jewish institutions in France. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, said that vigilance would be in all anti -Semitic, apology for terrorism or calling for hatred “.

Rock en Seine is held by the American giant of the Tours AEG and Combat, group of the French businessman Matthieu Pigasse, who sees in the presence of Kneecap an issue of “freedom of creation and expression”.

“We must not accept the principle of censorship because otherwise, it is a wave that will surge on festivals and on the media,” he told the Musical media Billboard France.