Punk rapper Bobby Vylan will face “no further action” after leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF” at a pro-Palestine rally in March, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.
Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson-Forster, repeated the slogan several times while on stage at the Al Quds Day event earlier this year, where he spoke accompanied by Wade Laurence George, aka Bobbie Vylan, his bandmate in the eponymous Bob Vylan.
A Met spokesperson said the decision not to prosecute had been taken after “early investigative advice was sought from the Crown Prosecution Service”.
They added that the force “recognises the concerns caused, particularly among London's Jewish communities” and “continues to work closely with community representatives to ensure the safety and security of Jewish Londoners”.
It comes after Avon and Somerset Police reached the same decision last December in relation to Robinson-Forster's use of the same chant while performing at that year’s Glastonbury Festival.
Then-BBC Director General Tim Davie later admitted the corporation had aired an “antisemitic broadcast” in relation to the band’s set, which was also condemned by numerous politicians, including then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Responding to the Met’s announcement on X, the band wrote: “After 5 months of ‘investigating’, the Met Police have decided to NFA [no further action] me for the same thing their mates Avon and Somerset Police couldn’t bring a charge about for when it was performed live on the BBC.
“Great use of resources guys! Maybe now you can stop the harassment and do some real work.”
It also recently emerged that Robinson-Forster had been deported from Germany over the chant in June after police concluded he posed a threat to public safety.
The dramatic move saw singer Pascal Robinson-Foster detained by German federal police at Berlin Brandenburg Airport before being placed on a flight back to Britain last month, according to a report by The Intercept.
Robinson-Forster told the magazine: "It is frankly absurd to claim that I am a threat to Germany's national security. It is equally absurd to claim that we are spreading propaganda on behalf of a banned organisation.”
And his lawyer, Alexander Gorski, said: “From the perspective of the rule of law, it is highly problematic that someone can be refused entry because of a political statement that does not constitute a criminal offence.”
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