An Irish band touring Europe has had a show in Germany cancelled after a venue refused to allow a Palestinian flag on stage.
The Murder Capital, a post-punk group formed in Dublin, was due to perform at the Gretchen club in Berlin on Saturday evening.
The cancellation comes weeks after rap trio Kneecap had several concerts in Germany and the UK cancelled. The group was criticised over controversial onstage statements regarding Hizbullah and Hamas, coming in the wake of their high-profile expression of solidarity with Palestine at the US Coachella festival.
In a video posted online, The Murder Capital‘s singer, James McGovern, told those waiting outside the venue they had been informed they could not have a flag on stage, nor could they have a banner reading: “Free Palestine.”
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“So it’s not just about national flags, it’s about political statements, and to us, this isn’t just a political statement, it’s a humanitarian statement,” he said, adding: “It’s about people who are dying and are being slaughtered every day and that’s happening right now.”
Mr McGovern, who said he was speaking on behalf of the band only, and not crew or management, while holding a Palestinian flag, said it would be “wrong” for the band, who has had the flag onstage for “countless shows”, to take it off “just so that the venue is kept happy”.
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In a post on social media, the Gretchen club said it was “very sorry” that the show did not go ahead, saying it has had a “no national flag” policy for many years.
“That means that we do not tolerate any kind of national flags in our venue,” it wrote, adding that it is written in its venue rules “so that artists are aware”.
“During the sound check this late afternoon it turned out that the band had a Palestinian flag on stage. We asked them to take the flag away, but they decided that for them and their show this flag is too important to be able to do the show without.
“We try to be a safe place for many different communities and really believe that music is able to build bridges, beyond borders and nationalities. Therefore, we deeply believe that national flags are not helpful at all,” it said.
The venue said it tries to support the Palestinian community as well as Jewish and Israeli people.
The Murder Capital is set to perform a number of shows across Europe and the United States in the coming months, and in a post on Sunday, it said the venue in the German city of Cologne has also told the band they cannot have the Palestinian flag onstage.
Mr McGovern told followers the band plans to perform an outdoor acoustic show at Cologne’s Rheinpark on Sunday evening instead of playing at the venue.
“The Palestinian flag itself needs to be on our stage and needs to be as visible everywhere in the world as possible. These people are being eradicated, being starved, being bombed,” he said, adding that Israel has committed “war crimes and genocide” against Palestinians.
