The Belgian city of Ypres has canceled an upcoming music festival following criticism about the lineup of acts and their ties to neo-Nazi and fascist groups, reported The Brussels Times.
The Ypres city council on Tuesday revoked the permit for the Frontnacht music festival, which was to be held the weekend of Aug. 27-28, after European intelligence services and Belgium’s Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis expressed concerns about the affiliations of the acts set to perform.
Scheduled to headline the festival was the Italian band Bronson, whose members belong to Italy’s neo-fascist CasaPound movement and regularly praise the late fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Vice reported. The publication also noted that other acts in the lineup had ties to the neo-Nazi group Blood & Honour and the international white-supremacist gang the Hammerskins.
The Ypres city council gave a permit to the IJzerwake group to organize the music festival when it was first announced in May but the permit came with conditions, Ypres city councilor of events Diego Desmadryl explained on Tuesday.
City officials also explained that the permit was given before the council was informed of the lineup for the festival.