I went to a Gaza protest and a Kneecap concert broke out

It’s been a hell of a week for Kneecap. Band member and rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (aka Mo Chara) appeared in court in London for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag during a gig last year. The Hungarian government put a stop to the band’s planned appearance at Budapest’s Sziget Festival by banning them from entering the country for three years. Planned US dates have been pulled due to a further Ó hAnnaidh court appearance. And then there was the French connection.

Held annually in Paris, Rock en Seine is one of the world’s biggest music festivals. This year’s headliners included Chappell Roan, Kid Cudi, Justice and Queens of the Stone Age. When Kneecap were added to Rock en Seine 2025’s bill last year, they were riding high as the Belfast-based snotty, annoying trio behind the self-mythologising semi-documentary of the same name.

Such is the noise around the band these days, watching the Kneecap film now feels like reaching back into time (even though it was only released last year). And it’s this noise that is troubling authorities across the world, the French establishment included. Because Kneecap – Mo Chara’s fellow rapper Móglaí Bap (real name Naoise Ó Cairealláin ) and producer and DJ, Próvaí (ex-teacher J. J. Ó Dochartaigh) – make no bones about their support for the Palestinian people and their hatred for the Israeli war machine.

Months before Mo Chara’s case added media traction, Kneecap gigs had become known for championing the Palestinian cause. Fearful of criticism, the BBC bottled showing the band’s live performance at this year’s Glastonbury festival, plumping for screening an edited version online later instead.

Nevertheless, Avon and Somerset Police then launched a criminal investigation after the band suggested that the Israeli government were war criminals and that fans should riot outside the court where Mo Chara’s case was to be heard. Although the investigation was quietly dropped mid-July, sections of Parisian society had already decided Kneecap were a threat to public order and should either not appear at Rock en Seine or – if they did – the festival should be made to suffer.

When Rock en Seine organisers refused to pull Kneecap’s slot in May, the festival’s local council, Saint-Cloud, withdrew its decades-long financial support for the event. So did the wider Ile-de-France region. Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, called for the cancellation of Kneecap’s appearance, citing what he said was a rise in antisemitic incidents in the country.

Interior minister Bruno Retailleau announced the band’s performance would be closely monitored for “any comments of an antisemitic nature, apology for terrorism or incitement to hatred.” Rock en Seine director Matthieu Pigasse responded by calling the suggestion that Kneecap’s pro-Palestinian stance was a threat to public order “deplorable”, and the band’s performance at Rock en Seine went ahead.

While Rock en Seine’s organisers must be applauded for sticking to their guns, they had clearly underestimated Kneecap’s pulling power. As punk-rave band Fat Dog toiled in front of a medium-sized crowd at the festival’s main stage, tens of thousands were gathering around the festival’s smaller Scène Bosquet, waiting for Kneecap to kick off.

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Even before the trio took the stage, the crowd was pulsating with chants of “Free Palestine” and the waving of Palestinian flags. Then a phrase appeared, writ large at the back of the stage: “LE GOUVERNEMENT FRANÇAIS EST COMPLICE: IL VEND ET FACILITE LE COMMERCE D’ARMES À L’ARMÉE ISRAÉLIENNE” ((“The French government is complicit: it sells and facilitates the trade of weapons to the Israeli army”). Kneecap bounded on and delirium ensued.

Musically, Kneecap echo first-wave Beastie Boys, only this time the raps are in a mix of English and Irish, and are themed more around drug deals and Garda-taunting than the right to party. The police are Kneecap’s second worst enemy (after Netanyahu and his cronies) and nose-thumbing anthem Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite builds slowly into a genuine rabble rouser. This is jump-around music for the new mullet and shellsuit generation.

As built to thrill as they are, it’s arguable that Kneecap’s banter between songs is as entertaining and edifying as their tracks. Gaps are filled by Mo Chara and Móglaí taking turns to underscore their support for the Palestinian people to enormous cheers.

They speak eloquently about the link between British colonial oppression of the Irish and Israel’s appalling disregard for humanity. They mention their mates The Mary Wallopers, who had their set cut short at an English festival the previous week after they waved a Palestinian flag.

Then there’s a scuffle down at the front. Pro-Israeli protestors have infiltrated the crowd and are blowing whistles in a vain attempt to drown out the performance. Mo and Móglaí heckle and blow raspberries as members of the festival’s security team grab the whistlers and lead them away.

Still chuckling, the pair remind each other they need to stop talking and get on with it as time is tight. They pile into shaggy dog story, Get Your Brits Out. The crowd go wild. For tonight, Kneecap have won.