Rock band plan 'suicide' show

The band plan to show the act in front of a rock audience

A US rock band say they will allow an onstage suicide to be conducted during a private concert in defiance of laws specially passed to stop it.

The group Hell on Earth said the death of a terminally ill person would go ahead during a show in a Florida city to highlight right-to-die issues.

Singer Billy Tourtelot said the act would take place in St Petersburg and would be shown on the band's website.

The city's council has accused the band of staging a publicity stunt.

Hell on Earth said they wanted to highlight right-to-die issues

However, council member Bill Foster said: "We still couldn't sit idly by and let somebody lose their life."

On Monday, the St Petersburg city council unanimously approved an emergency power making it illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes.

A judge granted the city a temporary injunction against the band, preventing them from advertising the show and allowing the suicide.

The Tampa-based group are known for such outrageous onstage stunts as chocolate syrup wrestling and grinding up live rats in a blender.

Tourtelot, 33, said the suicide show would be played before a "select few people" at an undisclosed location on Saturday.

He said the point was to raise awareness of the band's position that medically-assisted suicide should be legalised in Florida.

Under Florida law, assisting in a suicide is coved by the offence of manslaughter.

But Tourtelot insisted the band was not assisting the act. "This person will be doing this self-deliverance totally by themselves, on their own accord," he said.