Counter-terror police launch formal probe into Irish rap trio Kneecap after 'kill your local MP' call
Counter terror officers have launched a formal investigation into Irish rap group Kneecap after a video circulated of a bandmember urging fans to 'kill your local MP '.
Metropolitan Police was assessing the controversial footage as well as another clip which specialist cops now say they have 'grounds for further investigation into potential offences'.
The investigation will be carried out by Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command team with enquiries remaining ongoing.
The Irish band have also been condemned after videos showed them leading pro-Hamas and Hezbollah chants at Coachella music festival earlier this month.
The hip-hop trio have been pulled from a festival line-up and had gigs cancelled following a furious backlash.
The group has apologised to the families of murdered MPs but claimed footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised', while they also said they have 'never supported' Hamas or Hezbollah, which are both banned organisations in the UK.
The Met Police said today: 'On April 22, we were made aware of an online video believed to be from a music event in London in November 2024.
'Following this, we were made aware of a further video, believed to be from another music event in London in November 2023.
'Both videos were referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos.
'The investigation is now being carried out by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and inquiries remain ongoing at this time.'
In a statement posted on Instagram, the group, comprising Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, addressed the families of Sir David Amess and Jo Cox saying 'we never intended to cause you hurt', and that they 'reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual'.
Following backlash, the hip-hop trio's upcoming July 4 appearance at Cornwall's Eden Project was pulled on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a ticket site for the band's scheduled concerts in the German cities of Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, shows that the summer shows will no longer be going ahead.
Scheduled appearances at German music festivals Hurricane and Southside were also cancelled last week.
The Belfast trio, with an army of celebrity fans, are facing growing pressure over a concert in which one of them suggested ' the only good Tory is a dead Tory'.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheal Martin are among the critics of the group.
Labour MP David Taylor wrote to Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis, urging him to take the rappers off the bill for the festival in June.
Labour MP David Taylor has now written to Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis and his family, urging them to take the rappers off the bill for the festival this June.
They are due to perform on the Saturday of the event, alongside acts including Charli XCX, Neil Young and Raye - having previously performed a set there last year.
And Sir David Amess's daughter has now also been calling for the Glastonbury organisers to drop the band from the bill.
She said: 'For them to get up on stage in front of millions of people - who knows what they're going to say? It could be very, very dangerous.'
Sir David, 69, was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15 2021.
The MP, a father of five, had been holding a surgery in his Southend West constituency when he was attacked by Ali, who was sentenced to a whole-life prison term for the murder in 2022.
In his letter to Glastonbury organisers, Hemel Hempstead MP Mr Taylor wrote that if reports of the remarks were true 'the group's actions and statements go beyond the realm of legitimate political expression and into the dangerous territory of inciting violence and promoting extremism'.
Tory shadow minister Mark Francois raised a point of order in the House of Commons yesterday to say it would be 'unconscionable' if Kneecap were to perform at Glastonbury.
He urged Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to also write to festival bosses to say 'that this House does not think it is appropriate that Kneecap should be allowed to appear at least until the investigation is completed'.
The chilling remarks were made in November 2023, little more than two years after Tory MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death in his Essex constituency.
Sir David's daughter Katie has demanded an apology for her upset family.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman has called the group's lyrics 'completely unacceptable'.
Asked about Kneecap's remarks, he said: 'It is obviously completely unacceptable and he completely rejects those views and condemns them in the strongest possible terms.'
He added: We do not think that individuals expressing those views should be receiving future government funding.'
Asked whether he agreed with Ms Amess's call for the band to apologise, he replied: 'Of course, those remarks were completely unacceptable.
'And calls for violence towards anyone, including MPs, is clearly completely unacceptable.'
Katie Amess, whose Conservative MP father was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021, told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme that she was 'absolutely gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric'.
Ms Amess added: 'It is just beyond belief that human beings would speak like that in this day and age and it is extremely dangerous.
'To say to kill anybody, what on earth are they thinking?'
ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali.
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