Thousands of fans turned out for Irish band Kneecap’s biggest-ever headline gig in south London, just days after one of its band members was charged with a terrorism offence.
Earlier this week, Liam Og O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert at the O2 Forum in northwest London last November.
Kneecap denied the charges, describing it as “political policing” and “a carnival of distraction” away from Israeli aggression in Gaza.
O hAnnaidh told fans at the Wide Awake Festival on Friday that UK authorities were “trying to silence us before Glastonbury” and called on fans to be “on the right side of history”.
“I know we’re out, we’re enjoying ourselves and we’re trying to listen to some tunes at a festival… believe me, lads, I wish I didn’t have to do this,” he said at the event in Brixton’s Brockwell Park.
