Glasgow SNP group 'would not support ban on Kneecap performances'

Glasgow’s SNP administration would not support a ban on Irish rap group Kneecap performing in the city, council leader Susan Aitken said.

First Minister John Swinney previously backed calls for the band to be pulled from the bill at Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival, after footage emerged which allegedly showed them calling for the death of MPs.

During a performance at US festival Coachella, the trio displayed a message which said: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

They added: “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.”

Following the gig, clips of previous shows were shared online which seemingly showed a band member saying the “only good Tory is a dead Tory”, “kill your local MP” and “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at previous gigs.

Asked about the alleged comments, the First Minister said they “crossed a line”.

Kneecap has since apologised to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox.

The trio added they reject “any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual” and an “extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action”.

Cllr Aitken said the “anger in many quarters was a sincere response” to Kneecap’s comments. “The UK is a state where MPs have been murdered in recent years. Words can and do matter.”

She added: “That, certainly not on the part of the SNP group, doesn’t translate into support for a ban on them playing in Glasgow or indeed anywhere else.

“Or indeed does it take away from the point that the condemnation of Kneecap, particularly in the United States, much of it does appear to be driven by a wider dislike of their stances, not only their position in support of the Palestinian people but also their general stance of satirical provocation.”

She was speaking during a debate on a Green group motion which condemned “the Israeli’s government’s ongoing blockade of Gaza and its resumption of air strikes, which have continued the killing of innocent Palestinians”. It passed with an SNP amendment.

Cllr Jon Molyneux, Greens, said: “There are today six million Palestinians living as refugees, many under occupation and those in Gaza are now being given an option to effectively move or starve.

“Israel’s genocide is one of the greatest crimes of my lifetime. Innocent people have been murdered in their tens of thousands, there has been an almost total destruction of infrastructure.”

He called on the UK Government to “protect the rights of Palestinians by recognising a Palestine state before it’s too late”.

On Kneecap, he said: “The other threat we must counter is the increasing threats by pro-Israel groups to silence those voicing opposition to its actions.

“I do not condone Kneecap’s previous on-stage comments about politicians, I think they were stupid comments to make. It is right they should be held to account for them, and they have apologised for the hurt they’ve caused.”

However, he said some of those calling for them to be cancelled have “done so unashamedly because of the band’s pro-Palestine views and their appearance at the Coachella festival in particular”.

“This is deliberate. This is an attempt to shut them up, and we should not indulge this.”

The city’s Labour group didn’t support the motion as they wanted the reference to Kneecap to be removed.

Cllr Bill Butler, Labour, said: “We are considering someone calling for murder, plain and simple. Murder is not satire, because we are talking about the murder of thousands of people before our very eyes.

“Freedom of expression should not be confused with licence to say anything.”