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UNITED KINGDOM

Tatchell Fumes at Cops and Home Secretary Over Anti-Gay Singer’s Concert

Police will not cancel Bounty Killer concert unless there are threats of disturbances

Bounty Killer during videoed concert: "Faggot, I kill every one of them"
 

LONDON, November 21, 2008  –  The concert of the Jamaican “kill faggots” singer Bounty Killer is ahead this Sunday in London with the official sanction of the Home Secretary and the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

And the police say that unless there are threats of disturbances they will not cancel the concert.

“Jacqui Smith and Sir Paul Stephenson have ignored all polite, peaceful lobbying by the LGBT community,” said gay rights activist Peter Tatchell who is the coordinator of the Stop Murder Music Campaign.

“They have treated our community with total contempt.  They condemn gun and knife crime, and deplore the terrible killings of young Londoners, yet they facilitate a singer who promotes murder.”

Mr Tatchell said he has been tipped off by an officer at New Scotland Yard that the Metropolitan Police has decided they would only cancel Bounty Killer’s concert if there is a likelihood of public disorder.

“This is a tacit encouragement of violent protests,” said Mr Tatchell.

“The police are effectively saying that if someone to threatens to firebomb the concert venue and kill the manager they will cancel the performance.  Otherwise, if the protests are peaceful, the police will ignore them.

“It is utterly appalling that the Met Police will only respond to threats of violence and will ignore peaceful lobbying.  This is a complete disgrace.

“Perhaps the gay community should threaten to bomb and burn?  Then the police might listen to us.

"New Scotland Yard's approval of Bounty Killer's concert, despite him committing the criminal offence of incitement to murder, is absolutely shameful.

“This is not the police policy towards racists.  Racists have been banned from entering the UK and banned from performing on the grounds that their presence is not conducive to community cohesion and good community relations.  Their banning was independent of any threat of public disorder.

“Many of us are fed up with the double standards of the Met Police.  This is another example of the Met taking a tougher stand against racism than against homophobia.

“How much more explicit do Bounty Killer’s incitements to murder need to be,” asked Mr Tatchell?

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 “Despite this open, bare-faced incitement of murder, the police refuse to cancel Bounty Killer’s concert and the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has granted him a visa and work permit.

“There is a clear correlation between murder music and homophobic violence, especially in Jamaica, where the release of anti-gay tracks often coincides with a rise in queer-bashing violence,” added Mr Tatchell.

Bounty Killer has refused to sign the Reggae Compassionate Act (RCA), an agreement in which Jamaica artists and music industry pledged to discontinue the homophobia and not to perform the songs.

Mr. Tatchell is urging that, even at this late stage: Please help by emailing the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Home Secretary, requesting that they take urgent action to halt the Bounty Killer concert  in London this coming Sunday.

Email addresses (remove the spaces and substitute “at” with the  usual) are:  commissioner at met.police.uk and  public.enquiries at homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

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