[12-02-97 Tues] Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon was in police custody Friday in Florence Italy for six hours, because Italian officers objected to what he was wearing - a skirt. Nobacon was stopped by three officers inthe centre of Florence, where the band was to play a concert later that night. The officers wanted to see Nobacon's passport, but Nobacon explained that he'd left it at the venue the officers brought him to the police station and locked him in a cell. This happened at 3:20 in the afternoon. The vocalist repeatedly asked for a phone call or a legal representative, but the police refused to let him tell anyone where he was.
The rest of the band began to worry about Nobacon when he wasn't at the soundcheck later on. As showtime came closer, the bandmates called Florence's police stations and hospitals, but with no luck were told that no "bald-headed foreigner in a dress" had been admitted. The rest of the band thought he might be "lying in an alley somewhere." After five hours in the cell, Nobacon wrote his details on a piece of paper and held it up to the glass panel in the cell door. One of the officers recognized the name Chumbawamba and let him go. The police didn't charge Nobacon, but they photographed and fingerprinted him four times.
"They saw me in the street and didn't like the fact I was wearing a skirt," Nobacon said later. "Three of them frog marched me to a police van and forced me into it. Once at the police station they just put me in a cell and only brought me out for fingerprinting. They knew I hadn't committed a crime, they just wanted to have a go at someone who didn't fit their picture of manhood. I wasn't the only one dumped in a cell, there were two young boys in there about ten and twelve and they definitely shouldn't have been locked up with adults."
Nobacon was back just in time to play the concert. "If one of them hadn't heard of Chumbawamba I'd probably still be there now," said Nobacon. "As it is they've still got some of my possessions, they took my camera and that was the last I saw of it. It's a myth that the police abide by the law; people think you have rights but once you're in custody you don't have any rights."
Chumbawamba - December 02, 1997
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