Kneecap began a politically charged set at Glastonbury, leading the crowds in chants of “Fuck Keir Starmer!”
The Irish rap act took to the stage for their controversial set at 4pm on Saturday, which had been criticised by the UK prime minister as not “appropriate”.
It came after band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence for holding a Hezbollah flag at a London gig last November.
“We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,” said Ó hAnnaidh, on the band’s support for the people of Gaza who have faced an onslaught of Israeli bombs, bullets and a famine caused by the blockage of aid.
A sea of at least 200 Palestine flags made it difficult for cameras to get a clear shot of the stage from inside the crowd.
“The BBC editor is going to have some job,” he joked, referring to the flags. Earlier the broadcaster confirmed it would not be able to support a live stream of the performance.
Users of the Glastonbury app received a push notification almost an hour before the band were due to perform saying the West Holts stage was closed. However, spectators were still getting in as much as 20 minutes before the start of the set.
The show opened with clips of news and various television discussion shows from politicians and commentators saying the group should be banned and that they had been “avoiding justice for far too long”.
There was booing from the crowd for Sharon Osborne calling them a “pathetic band”.
“Glastonbury I’m a free man!” shouted Ó hAnnaidh, to wild cheers from the crowd.
“If anybody falls down, you’ve got to pick them up. We’ve got to keep each other safe.”
The crowds chanted: “Free Mo chara, free mo chara!”
“Mo Chara’s back in court for a trumped up terrorism charge,” said Móglaí Bap, also known as Naoise Ó Cairealláin.
“It’s not the first time there’s a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British criminal justice system,” he said.
Ó hAnnaidh cut a defiant figure, saying his plight in the courts was nothing compared to the suffering of the Palestinian people. The band urged people to come out to support Ó hAnnaidh at his next court date at Westminster magistrates court.
“I want to say a big thank you to the Eavis family,” Ó hAnnaidh added, for “holding strong” in the face of criticism.
Numerous times the trio chanted “Fuck Keir Starmer!”, with the crowd passionately shouting back. They laughed with the crowd asking: “Is anyone going to see Rod Stewart tomorrow?”
The 80-year-old rocker was criticised ahead of his performance after saying he thought the public should give Nigel Farage “a chance”.
Describing him as Rod the Prod, Ó hAnnaidh said: “I mean, the man’s older than Israel.”
