Liverpool Friends of Palestine to protest at O2 Academy on Saturday evening

Liverpool Friends of Palestine will be leafleting outside Liverpool's O2 Academy on Saturday evening. Public Image Limited are playing there that evening. The band is headed by John Lydon, formerly and better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

The protest is held because the band's tour culminates at the end of August with an appearance in Tel-Aviv (Israel's capital city). This is in violation of the cultural and economic boycott which Friends of Palestine supports. The group say that PIL and other bands should not visit Israeli venues until there is justice for the Palestinians.

A growing number of artists have decided to observe and support the cultural boycott. Last month Friends of Palestine leafleted Elvis Costello's Liverpool concert to thank him for cancelling his planned gig in Tel-Aviv. Other artists who have taken this stance include Gil Scott-Heron, The Pixies, Carlos Santana and the Klaxons.

The attitude of John Lydon has been quite unrepentant. There have been protests at earlier concerts on this tour, most recently in Bristol on 20 July.

Tom Bimpson, chairman of the Friends of Palestine group, said "There is something rotten in the state of Israel even before Johnny gets there. He should stay away and show some support for the Palestinians. If he thinks his 'one-man army' will bring about change in Palestine he is sadly mistaken"

From 7:15 outside the 02 academy (Behind the Liverpool Empire), Saturday 24th July.