Why are Kneecap not in prison?

[BlossomBlanket]

But Lucy Connelly is? Kneecap told people to kill their MPs. Why have they not been arrested.

(To be very clear, I do not condone violence of any kind towards anyone, I'm just asking as this seems like a double standard, can someone explain?)

So now you’ve moved from “young people don’t say things like this” to “these people aren’t young”. Fine. I am not defending kneecap. I’m just saying I’m not shocked, and I do not believe for one second that any Irish person will murder a Tory MP because of what they said.

Dictionary Definitions (of an unofficial force) organized similarly to a military force

They're gangs! These cosplayers are not soldiers of any type.

Unless we're calling all the ocgs in Manchester, Liverpool London etc paramilitary now?

So you’re not shocked and “do not believe for one second that any Irish person will murder a Tory MP because of what they said”
However most of us know that hate speech does make the world less safe so I think your views are unconvincing

What catholics do kneecap celebrate the maiming of? Which terrorist groups have kneecap come out is support of?

Their name is a reference to the punishment meted out by the IRA to Catholics .
It’s a deliberately provocative name .
I understand that artists can be provocative but so many Irish people on here have talked about the traumatic legacy of the troubles that it seems a very tasteless and aggressive choice

I have gotten this far in the thread managing to sit on my hands but this has to be BY FAR one of the most ignorant, fucking idiotic posts I have read here!!!

What the fuck has the fact the England suffered in WWII got to do with the constant oppression of the Irish by the BRITISH? It’s ok that the Brits treated the Irish the way they did because Germany kinda sorta treated the Brits that way? What the fuck are you on about ?

That last paragraph really beggars belief. Do you think all is ok now in the North? Do you not class The Troubles as recent history?
Christ - one of the Paras (known only as soldier F) is only standing trial THIS YEAR for needlessly murdering protestors during Bloody Sunday.

I am not excusing the actions of Irish Republican paramilitary forces, either. Hell of a lot of blood shed on both sides but FGS go and educate yourself on the political situation on the Island of Ireland and the literal centuries of oppression at the hands of the Brits and exactly HOW it all led to the troubles and the ongoing tensions in the north.

SMH

(I am British myself by the way)

But that’s irrelevant because Kneecap aren’t from Ireland.
They’re from Northern Ireland which is in the UK.

I really really wouldn’t care if someone said “kill the entire Irish government”. Or “kill all SDLP MPs”. Not because I think those are reasonable things to do but because I don’t believe it is actually incitement to violence, it is just words.

You can disagree and that’s fine, but there’s nothing bigoted about my position that they’re saying shocking things to get a reaction and not to incite violence.

I feel like you’re still labouring under the misapprehension that I am somehow claiming special status or saying they’re not as bad? Obviously they are organised crime gangs. They are also paramilitary in nature and in origin. I don’t know anything about English gangs but if the ultimate controlling force is organised like a military organisation and called things like the Surrey Defence Army then yes; they are arguably paramilitaries?

I don’t disagree that the day to day motivation has shifted. You just seem very insistent that these paramilitary organisations are not paramilitary.

How would we prove that criminalising hate speech has made places safer? Has it? How would we know if it hadn’t?

Thank you - I felt like I was going a bit mad??

I have no comment to make on whatever anyone suffered during WW2 but the fact remains that the youngest 18 year old in 1945 is now nearly 100.

those who were 18 when Omagh was bombed are 45. I just do not think they are comparable in terms of the effects that can be felt on a living population. How many people in England have personally witnessed someone murderered? In NI it’s some horrific stat like 33% have witnessed traumatic violence.

I just cannot believe the ‘get over it and stop acting the victim’ comments on this thread.
Go spend some time in Belfast - go from the Shankhill to The Falls through the peace wall that still gets locked up every single night at 7pm and then come back and say “it’s all in the past”

I didn’t know who Lucy Connelly is.

@EcoChica1980if you knew anything about NI you would know that referring to your ‘fellows on the mainland’ is offensive. For many of is NI is on the mainland- of Ireland.

Reminds me of when I saw Obama speak in Berlin before he was president and he said “walls have come down in Berlin!” and everyone cheered, and then he said “walls have come down in Belfast!” and everyone cheered but I was like ?????? No they haven’t??? They’re literally still there???? Have a wee dander down Northumberland St Barack, you’ll see a great big bloody wall!

There is nothing contained in this link that prevents me for publically stating “I support Hamas” (or the IRA).
There is nothing that prevents me from saying “I agree with the goals of Hamas” (or the IRA).

I suffered not one bit during WWII because I wasn’t alive then. I also cannot see reminders or traces of it everywhere I go in my home city. I don’t live in a city where half of the population is, at best, deeply suspicious of the other half. I don’t come from generations and generations of families that have been oppressed and treated like second class citizens because of their religion or cultural identity. I have lost close family members in living memory.

And to top it off, I don’t have ignorant people telling me to get over it and move on.

Youre not going mad.

In short, yes they should be in prison. And probably the reason they are not is because the police have yet to charge them. Let's hope they get on with it.

@OpheliaWasntMad Not sure if you know this but pictures of Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance Party politicians are regularly burned on 12th of July bonfires as part of Orange celebrations. A picture of the Irish taoiseach (PM) was burned in 2023. Also photos of the pope, the Irish flag etc.

It is condemned by politicians of all parties. The police do investigate. Not sure anything comes of it, nothing that I’ve heard of anyway.
Most people just roll their eyes at the stupidity of it though.

Whilst official members of the Orange Order claim the marches aren’t at all sectarian 🤦‍♀️

No it’s not. Have you read the act or are you just making things up?

They have called themselves “kneecap”.

They have publicly declared support for hezbollah and Hamas. Both proscribed terrorist organizations

Of course the UK should be paying, NI is in the UK. Ireland isn't, Ireland is a mere friend who sees that the UK have made NI into one of the poorest countries and Europe and are helping out. You said they should make friends, I was pointing out that they have them.

Who called the referendum with absolutely no thought or plan as to how it would work alongside the Good Friday Agreement? What sort of idiots call a referendum for something that they have no idea how they are going to enact? The Good Friday Agreement was hard fought and the British government put zero thought into how they would protect that, instead when Ireland pointed out the problems they rolled their eyes and threw tantrums about the fact they were being told to uphold it. It was disgraceful behaviour.

I didn't say Irish people are inherently better than anyone else but I will say that in recent times they treat NI better than anyone else.