Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders called for the arrest of the Bob Vylan band on Sunday after they urged violence against Zionist and celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk during a concert in Amsterdam.
“Amsterdam, Paradiso. ‘Death to the IDF,’ ‘Fuck the Zionist. Go find them in the streets.’ No action of the Mayor of Amsterdam, Public Prosecutor or Minister. All silent,” Wilders tweeted on Sunday.
“Total anarchy in The Netherlands. Arrest him and send him out of the country now!” the political leader of the country’s Freedom Party said.
During the performance at Amsterdam’s feted Paradiso concert hall on Saturday, frontman Bobby Vylan told fans: “I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of shit of a human being. The pronouns was/were. Cause if you chat shit you will get banged. Rest in peace Charlie Kirk, you piece of shit,” the musician exclaimed.
Kirk, a conservative activist who often spoke in support of Israel, was shot dead Sept. 10 while addressing an audience at Utah Valley University.
According to the Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands, the band also called on fans to find “Zionists” in the streets and “kick them in the face.”
“The call from the stage to ‘go find them on the street’ by singer Bob Vylan this evening in Paradiso is nothing less than a call for yet another pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam, just as we saw on the night of Nov. 7–8 of last year,” Board president Chanan Hertzberger stated on Saturday.
The organization had urged the nation’s minister of justice and security “well in advance” to bar the band’s frontman, a non-E.U. national, from entering the Netherlands. The request was not acted upon, it said.
In a statement posted on its website on Sunday, Paradiso said: “On Saturday, September 13, during his performance at Paradiso, artist Bob Vylan made statements that many experienced as harsh and offensive.
“Paradiso believes in the power of artistic freedom. Music, and punk in particular, has traditionally been a form of art that amplifies anger, discontent, and injustice without filter.
“Paradiso shares the outrage and concern regarding the genocidal violence taking place in Gaza.
“That Bob Vylan raises his voice against it is legitimate and necessary. Should the Openbaar Ministerie (public prosecution service) wish to investigate whether any criminal offences have been committed, Paradiso will cooperate.”
Meanwhile, the band’s planned performance on Tuesday at the 013 venue in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands was cancelled, with organizers saying the statements made by the musician “go too far.”
“The reason for the cancellation is the controversial statements the artist made last night during a show at Paradiso in Amsterdam,” according to the translated statement, which noted that 013 had decided to book the band despite the “controversy” around their Glastonbury performance.
In June, the United States revoked the visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band, who are facing a criminal probe in the United Kingdom for leading chants there of “Death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury festival.
“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau said following the decision. Bob Vylan had a tour lined up in November.
