Rock en Seine: concert under surveillance for Kneecap, who discusses the situation in Gaza on stage

This one-hour concert took place in front of several thousand people in Saint-Cloud (west of Paris), preceded by a controversy over its attire because this Belfast group has made a habit of making its shows a platform for the Palestinian cause against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip.

"Free, free Palestine!" shouted the band, whose music oscillates between rap and punk, at the beginning and end of their show, haranguing an enthusiastic crowd where keffiyehs and Irish jerseys were visible.

"We are not against Israel," he also said, adding: "I know we are angry but we are just here to have fun."

During his performance, Kneecap did, however, repeatedly address the situation in the Middle East: "Netanyahu is a war criminal" and "If you don't call it genocide, what do you call it?" he said.

Authorities had warned that they would be keeping an eye on this concert. One of the three members of the group, Liam O'Hanna, known as Mo Chara, is being prosecuted for a "terrorist offense" after covering himself with a Hezbollah flag during a concert in London in 2024. This pro-Iranian Lebanese Islamist movement, a sworn enemy of Israel, is classified as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom.

Supported by hundreds of supporters, Mo Chara appeared in court in the British capital on Wednesday and was released, with the decision adjourned until September 26.

These legal twists and turns have not prevented Kneecap from continuing his sold-out tour, such as at Glastonbury at the end of June, where he accused Israel of being a "war criminal" state.

However, he was deprived of the Sziget festival in Budapest, after an entry ban was imposed by the Hungarian government, a close ally of Israel.

"Gained a lot of notoriety"

"We are confident that the group will perform perfectly," Matthieu Ducos, director of Rock en Seine, explained to AFP a few days before the festival opened.

"It's a group that remains relatively confidential in France but which has gained a lot of notoriety recently, for very good artistic reasons, but also all this controversy which has meant that it has gained enormously in visibility and fans," he added.

In this context, the city of Saint-Cloud has withdrawn its 40,000 euro subsidy from Rock en Seine, a first.

The Ile-de-France region has also cancelled its aid for the 2025 edition. The subsidy amounted to €295,000 in 2024, to which is added €150,000 in indirect aid through the purchase of tickets.

The disengagement of these communities does not, however, jeopardize the viability of the festival, whose budget is between 16 and 17 million euros this year.

Without incident in France

In France, Kneecap - "kneecap" in English, a reference to the practice of paramilitary militias who shot their victims in the knees during the Northern Ireland conflict - has already occurred twice this summer.

Their concerts at the Eurockéennes in Belfort in early July and at the Cabaret Vert in Charleville-Mézières in mid-August took place without incident, but voices were raised calling for their cancellation in Saint-Cloud.

"They are desecrating the memory of the 50 French victims of Hamas on October 7, as well as all the French victims of Hezbollah," Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), denounced on X.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, for his part, stated that vigilance would be required with regard to "any remarks of an anti-Semitic nature, apology for terrorism or inciting hatred."

Rock en Seine is owned by the American touring giant AEG and Combat, a group owned by French businessman Matthieu Pigasse, who sees Kneecap's presence as a matter of "freedom of creation and expression."

"We must not accept the principle of censorship because, otherwise, it will be a wave that will hit festivals and the media," he told the music media Billboard France.