| The OutRage! website seems to be closed definitively for unknown reasons. While doing my research, it was sometimes opperative but most of the time it was not in function. Maybe the work of hackers or simply a condition to the February 2005 deal reached within the dancehall industry and gay organisations. In any cases, this is the way the text originally appered on their webpage. |
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| Bid to arrest reggae star Outrage! News Service November 10, 2003 Original link for this article: LINK The Metropolitan Police is being urged to arrest Jamaican reggae singer Bounty Killer when he arrives in Britain later this week for a concert at the Stratford Rex in London next Saturday, 6 December. The gay rights group OutRage! is calling for Bounty Killer to be arrested on charges of inciting the assault and murder of gay people, and/or on charges of causing harassment, alarm and distress. It has written to Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll of New Scotland Yard's hate crime unit, the Diversity Directorate (copy of the letter below). Four Bounty Killer tracks call for gay people to be burned, drowned, wiped out, stoned and murdered (copy of the lyrics below). OutRage! is also requesting the police to warn the Stratford Rex and the concert booking agency Ticketmania they "may be guilty of aiding and abetting criminal offences by promoting and giving a platform to Bounty Killer, especially if he performs any of his violently homophobic songs on 6 December". OutRage! says: "If the Stratford Rex and Ticketmania cannot give an assurance that these violent, criminal tracks will not be performed, we urge the Metropolitan Police to insist that Bounty Killer's concert is cancelled and that all ticket sales are halted". The full text of OutRage!'s letter to the Metropolitan Police, urging Bounty Killer's arrest, follows below. Text of the OutRage! letter to the Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll Diversity Directorate Metropolitan Police New Scotland Yard London SW1 1 December 2003 Dear Clive Driscoll, Request for the arrest of Jamaican reggae singer Bounty Killer on charges of inciting the assault and murder of gay people, and/or on charges of causing harassment, alarm and distress. Further to my letter of 18 June 2003 requesting the prosecution of reggae artists who advocate homophobic violence and murder: One of those artists, the Jamaican reggae singer Bounty Killer, will be in Britain later this week to perform at a concert in Birmingham on Friday 5 December and at another concert in London on Saturday 6 December. His London venue is the Straford Rex. Tickets are being sold via Ticketmania. The lyrics of the four Bounty Killer songs listed below variously incite the murder, assault and harassment of gay people and are, at the very least, likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress - all of which are criminal offences. Specifically, the four tracks call for gay people to be burned, drowned, wiped out, stoned and murdered. Bounty Killer cannot be allowed to come to this country and spread his message of homophobic violence with impunity. 1. On behalf of the queer human rights group OutRage! I am urging the Metropolitan Police to arrest and charge Bounty Killer under either Sections 4 or 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, the common law offence of incitement to violence and murder, or under Section 4 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861. 1. We also request the police to warn the Stratford Rex and Ticketmania they may be guilty of aiding and abetting criminal offences by promoting and giving a platform to Bounty Killer, especially if he performs any of his violently homophobic songs on 6 December. 1. If the Stratford Rex and Ticketmania cannot give an assurance that these violent, criminal tracks will not be performed, we urge the Metropolitan Police to insist that Bounty Killer's concert is cancelled and that all ticket sales are halted. We reiterate: what we object to is Bounty Killer's explicit encouragement of violent attacks on lesbians and gay men. Encouraging such attacks is a crime under British law. We expect the law to be upheld. In a democratic society people have a right to criticise homosexuality, but they do not have a right to encourage queer-bashing violence and murder. If a singer advocated similar violence against a racial minority, he would be immediately arrested and charged. We see no just reason why incitements to homophobic violence should be treated less seriously than incitements to racial violence. The Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service are making a mockery of their commitment to tackle anti-gay hate crimes. It is now five months since we submitted our dossier on these violent hate singers. So far, all we have received is lame excuses, especially from the CPS. What degree of violence do these singers have to incite before the Met and CPS will act? How many queers have to get bashed and murdered before the promoters of homophobic violence are prosecuted? We expect action against Bounty Killer and will settle for nothing less. I hope you can reassure us that action will be taken. The lesbian and gay community is entitled to the full and equal protection of the law. To date, we have not got it. How much longer must we wait for equality under the law? Not beyond the end of this week, I hope. Yours sincerely, Peter Tatchell OutRage! - campaigning for queer human rights APPENDIX: Bounty Killer lyrics Artist: Bounty Killer with Baby Cham |