Mo Chara speaks out at Dublin gig after bail release

Kneecap played their largest Dublin show to date on Thursday night, just 24 hours after Mo Chara had appeared in a London court on terrorism charges for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year.

He was released on unconditional bail, pending a new court date in August.

"This is quite the cultural change from being sat in a magistrates’ court" he said, "Though I'm definitely not the first lad from West Belfast that's happened to."

In a 4-minute speech midway through the set, Mo Chara, whose birth name is Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, addressed the ongoing tragedy unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel are religious fanatics, genocidal fucking scumbags," he said speaking to an adoring crowd filled with tricolours and Palestine flags.

"As Irish people, we understand genocide, we understand colonialism. We lived through a famine that killed one million people and another one million emigrated.

"But through all our hardship, we were never bombed from the sky, with nowhere to go. The world is standing idly by while Palestinians are being bombed to death and starved of food and aid.

"The Irish people need to be on the right side of history," he added.

The gig was a spectacular show that featured the band's high-energy tracks, from 'It's Been Ages' to 'Parful', which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Huge mosh pits formed several times and various chants of "Free Palestine" and "Free Mo Chara" regularly broke out.

Yesterday, Kneecap also announced the upcoming release of a gold vinyl edition for their debut album Fine Art, which came out a year ago and was recently certified Gold in Ireland.

 

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