Massive Attack will not be allowed to perform in Singapore after the band reportedly flew a Palestinian flag and joined the crowd in a “Free Palestine” chant during a July 29 show at the city-state’s State Theater. In a statement shared to Instagram today, August 2, the band said they were “surprised and disappointed” by the authorities’ response, writing: “For our part, we did not imagine that merely holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognized by 157 countries (Palestine) would violate any law.”
The decision is tied to Singapore’s policies on public speech, which prohibit publicly displaying foreign national emblems without a permit or exemption. In 2023, the city-state’s Ministry of Home Affairs shared a release specifically discouraging citizens from wearing or displaying articles that address the Israel-Palestine conflict. “The peace and harmony between different races and religions in Singapore should not be taken for granted, and we must not let events happening externally affect this peace and harmony we have in Singapore,” it noted.
According to the band’s statement, they were “detained by the police, isolated, and separately questioned” following their performance; the group also reported some band members being subject to passport confiscation and hotel room searches. Massive Attack say that the “Free Palestine” chants in question were “organically led” by members of the audience.
“We are proud to have made this impromptu expression with our fans in Singapore who clearly felt a moral imperative to show solidarity with the people of Palestine in their ongoing reality of illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and we salute their courage in doing so,” the band wrote. “Right across the world, the continued inaction of the ‘international’ community is moving citizens to personal risk.”
Massive Attack have long been vocal supporters of Palestinian self-determination. In April, Dej Naja was arrested at a London protest in support of Palestine Action, an activist group that has been designated a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom. Del Naja was one of 500 protestors, and pictures showed him holding a sign that read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Del Naja and his bandmate, Grant Marshall, were also early adopters of the No Music for Genocide campaign, which calls on artists and labels to geo-block their music from streaming in Israel.
Read Massive Attack’s full statement below.
Following our performance at the Star Theatre, Singapore on 29th July, we were surprised and disappointed that our entire band was detained by the police, isolated, and separately questioned—with some members subjected to hotel room searches and temporary passport confiscation.
Before we set foot on the stage and again at the end of the show, large sections of the auditorium organically led chants of “Free Palestine” presumably aware but undeterred that this spontaneous expression alone could violate their government’s censorship laws.
For our part, we did not imagine that merely holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognised by 157 countries (Palestine) would violate any law.
On reflection, we are proud to have made this impromptu expression with our fans in Singapore who clearly felt a moral imperative to show solidarity with the people of Palestine in their ongoing reality of illegal occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and we salute their courage in doing so. Right across the world, the continued inaction of the “international community” is moving citizens to personal risk.
This surreal experience was a reminder of the importance of defending universal human rights and freedom of expression wherever those rights are threatened, including at home in the UK where, extraordinarily, we still see peaceful protestors arrested under terrorism laws for holding up handwritten signs protesting genocide—despite appeals from all sides of the political spectrum.
We’re grateful to the people of Singapore who made us feel so welcome, and hope that the Government of Singapore will choose to ratify the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and allow their citizens expressions of conscience without fear of state prosecution.
As we were saying … Free Palestine.
xM
