Bob Vylan are allowed to travel to Germany again after a temporary ban was instigated last month in response to the controversy surrounding the duo’s performance at last year’s Glastonbury Festival.
That ban came to light when frontman Bobby Vylan, aka Pascal Robinson, visited Berlin in June to see friends and musical collaborators. After arriving at Berlin Airport he was denied entry into Germany, temporarily detained and then sent back to the UK.
Justifying their actions, German police cited the Glastonbury 2025 performance during which Robinson led the crowd in on-stage chants of “death, death to the IDF” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free”, prompting allegations of antisemitism from the band’s critics. Allegations strongly denied by Robinson who has launched defamation proceedings against some of those who have made that claim.
Given that justification, Bob Vylan have dubbed the German authorities’ actions “another attempt to silence and intimidate those that oppose the ongoing genocide in Palestine”.
The punk duo are known, of course, for their on-stage criticism of Israel and support of Palestine, something which has been both commended and condemned by different groups.
The controversy sparked by the Glasto set - and the fact it was broadcast live by the BBC - resulted in visa issues in the US and a number of cancelled shows for the band.
However, a police investigation into the on-stage comments at Glastonbury did not lead to any charges being pursued, and when Dutch prosecutors investigated similar comments made by Robinson on stage at a show in the Netherlands, they concluded that criminal action was not warranted.
Although the German authorities haven’t said much about their decision to block Robinson from entering the country, journalists at The Intercept got their hands on a German police report about that decision.
The report claims that Robinson disseminated “antisemitic narratives and Hamas propaganda” that could “radicalise certain segments of the population” and serve as “ideological justification” for terrorist groups or individuals. It also says that Robinson poses a “threat” to Germany’s “public security and public order”.
Responding to those claims, Robinson told The Intercept, “it’s frankly absurd to suggest that I’m a threat to German national security”, adding, “it’s equally absurd to claim that we spread propaganda on behalf of any proscribed organisation”.
The band’s lawyers were preparing to go legal against the German authorities but, before that process could really begin, police decided to reverse their decision and drop the travel ban.
In a statement, the band say, “once the police file was received it appeared there truly was no legal basis for denial of entry”, but before their lawyers could formally file a case with the German courts, “the police decided to remove the travel ban, allowing all members of Bob Vylan to travel freely to Germany for work and/or leisure”.
They then add, “this is once again another attempt to silence and intimidate those that oppose the ongoing genocide in Palestine”, adding that their team forcing a reversal by the German authorities is a “clear display of how important it is to challenge these intimidation tactics wherever they are found”.