Irish rappers Kneecap parade severed King George V statue head at Melbourne concert

The head was revealed on stage with the band during their performance in Melbourne. Credit / Instagram

• A severed bronze head of King George V appeared on stage at a Kneecap concert in Melbourne.
• The head was removed from a statue in Kings Domain, Melbourne, in June last year.
• Police are investigating the vandalism and the head’s appearances at various events and online.

A severed bronze head of King George V, removed from its statue in Melbourne last year, has turned up at a concert in the Australian city by Kneecap, an Irish Republican band.

Video footage shows the head of the king, who reigned from 1910 to 1936, on stage during the Belfast band’s performance.

The head was sawn off a statue in Kings Domain, Melbourne, in June last year.

“Some madman dropped by with a huge King George’s head so he could hear a few tunes for our last Melbourne show,” the band wrote on Instagram after the Friday concert.

“Allegedly his head was cut off last year in the city. Anyways, he was put on stage for a few tunes and then whisked away. Remember, every colony can fall.”

The last comment was an apparent reference to the slogan “the colony will fall”, often sprayed on vandalised colonial statues in Australia as part of protests by Aboriginal land rights campaigners.

Since the head was taken from the statue in Melbourne, it has appeared from time to time in social media posts.

When the statue of George V was desecrated last June, the attackers dedicated the vandalism to King Charles.

A video of the decapitation, accompanied by the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen, was posted online with the message: “Happy Birthday Motherf*****.”

A 50-second video of the attack was posted on X by a group that calls itself Waca, or the Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance.

On Australia Day in January this year, the statue was burned on a barbecue. It has also been dumped in a lavatory, and decorated with a feather boa.

Police are investigating the desecration of the statue and the whereabouts of the head. No one has arrested.

“Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives continue to investigate damage to a statue in Kings Domain last year,” a spokesman for Victoria police said.

“Investigators are also aware that the head from what appears to be a statue appeared at a concert in Melbourne on March 14.”

Kneecap rap in a mixture of English and Irish, and espouse Irish Republican views.

Known for their provocative lyrics, the band was formed in 2017 by three friends who go by the stage names of Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai.

The latter wears a green, white and orange balaclava — the colours of the Irish flag.

One of their best-known tracks is called Get Your Brits Out.

Their rise to fame has been portrayed in a recently released film starring the Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender.

Several British colonial statues in Australia have been vandalised in recent years as part of Aboriginal rights protests, including those of Captain Cook and Queen Victoria.