IRISH rap trio Kneecap hit out today over the charging in Britain of one of the group’s members with a terrorism offence, branding it “political policing” and a “carnival of distraction.”

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged under anti-terror laws for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag during a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, on November 21.

The 27-year-old is due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on June 18.

In a statement, the group said that “14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British Establishment is focused on us.

“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves; this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction.

“We are not the story, genocide is. As they profit from genocide, they use an ‘anti-terror law’ against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage.”

The statement said that instead of defending innocent people, “the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries.”

“We stand proudly with the people. You stand complicit with the war criminals,” Kneecapp said.

The Communist Party of Ireland sent its solidarity to Kneecap.

“It is clear this is not just an attempt to silence Kneecap, but to silence all cultural workers who have spoken out against the ongoing genocide.

“The British state has used the same draconian ‘anti-terror’ laws against thousands of Irish people over the decades to silence its opponents.

“It is deeply ironic that those who continue to arm and give political and diplomatic cover for the zionist genocide in Gaza and the ongoing repression of Palestinians in the West Bank remain free and unaccountable to any legal sanction,” its general secretary James Corcoran said.