UK police drop probe into Bob Vylan’s chants about Israeli military

Police accidental determination is ‘insufficient evidence’ to bring charges aft investigating comments made astatine Glastonbury festival.

British constabulary person said they volition instrumentality nary further enactment implicit comments made by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan astir the Israeli subject during a show astatine the Glastonbury euphony festival successful June.

Avon and Somerset Police said connected Tuesday that the remarks did not conscionable the transgression threshold required for prosecution “for immoderate idiosyncratic to beryllium prosecuted”.

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During the performance, the group’s pb vocalist – Pascal Robinson-Foster, known by his signifier sanction Bobby Vylan – led chants of “death, death” directed astatine the Israeli subject implicit its genocidal warfare successful Gaza.

Police said determination was “insufficient grounds to supply a realistic imaginable of conviction”. The unit added that it interviewed a antheral successful his mid-30s and contacted astir 200 members of the nationalist arsenic portion of the investigation.

The chant, which was livestreamed by the BBC arsenic portion of its Glastonbury sum connected June 28, prompted a wide backlash. The broadcaster aboriginal apologised for transmitting what it described arsenic “such violative and deplorable behaviour”, and its complaints portion recovered the BBC had breached editorial guidelines.

Avon and Somerset Police said it had considered the intent down the words, the wider context, applicable lawsuit instrumentality and state of look issues earlier concluding the investigation.

“We judge it is close this substance was comprehensively investigated, each imaginable transgression offence was thoroughly considered, and we sought each the proposal we could to guarantee we made an informed decision,” the connection said.

“The comments made connected Saturday 28 June drew wide anger, proving that words person real-world consequences.”

Following the performance, the United States revoked the visas of Bob Vylan, forcing the cancellation of a planned US circuit scheduled to statesman successful October.

Bob Vylan person launched defamation proceedings against Irish broadcaster RTE, alleging it falsely claimed they led anti-Semitic chants during the Glastonbury performance.

In July, the British constabulary besides dropped an probe into the Irish-language rap radical Kneecap aft chants of “Free Palestine” during a performance.

Detectives sought proposal from the Crown Prosecution Service and decided to instrumentality nary further action, citing “insufficient grounds to supply a realistic imaginable of condemnation for immoderate offence”.