British police drop Bobby Vylan Glastonbury chant probe

London: The British police have announced they are ending a criminal investigation into Bob Vylan, a punk-rap duo that tried to get a crowd at a music festival to chant “death, death to the IDF,” in reference to Israel’s military.

Although the chant caused international outrage, the Avon and Somerset Police said in a news release on Tuesday that officers concluded that the evidence did “not meet the criminal threshold” for prosecution. The police had conducted a months-long investigation into the chant, which the band led during a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June.

Bobby Vylan of punk-rap duo Bob Vylan on stage at Glastonbury in June this year. Credit: AP

“No further action will be taken on the basis there is insufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction,” the police said.

Since the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s retaliation in the Gaza Strip, many British and Irish bands have made pro-Palestinian statements onstage at concerts and music festivals without complaint.

But after Bob Vylan’s chant was aired on a BBC streaming service, Jewish groups, as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, condemned it as hate speech. In the United States, Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, announced that he had revoked the group’s visas.

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“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau said on social media.

Bob Vylan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. In October, the band’s frontman, Bobby Vylan, said in a podcast interview that the chant had called for an end to “the oppression that the Palestinian people are facing”.

“I am a lyricist,” said the musician, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster. “‘Death, death to the IDF’ rhymes. Perfect chant.”

A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust, an organisation that monitors antisemitism in Britain, said the police’s decision not to charge Bob Vylan was “incredibly disappointing” and “sends completely the wrong message”.

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Bob Vylan had previously chanted “free Palestine” at the Coachella music festival in California in April; while the criminal investigation concerning the chant at the Glastonbury festival was underway, the band continued to make pro-Palestinian statements onstage.

“The subsequent backlash that I’ve faced, it’s minimal — it’s minimal — compared to what people in Palestine are going through,” Vylan said in the podcast interview.

The Avon and Somerset Police said in their news release that they stood by the investigation and emphasised that the chant “drew widespread anger, proving that words have real-world consequences”.

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