Trip hop band Massive Attack has been banned from Singapore after some of its members unfurled a Palestinian flag on stage in the country last week.
The British group – whose lineup includes Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall – performed at the city-state’s Star Theatre on Wednesday.
After pulling out and displaying a Palestinian flag while performing, they became the subject of a police investigation, alleged hotel room searches and temporary passport confiscation, and eventual ban from the country.
Singapore, which has relatively strict laws governing public speech, assembly, and political expression, generally prohibits the public display of foreign national flags and other foreign national emblems without a permit or official exemption.
In a statement, Singapore’s police said it had issued “stern warnings” to both men and said it views seriously acts that might “harm the racial and religious harmony” in Singapore or “undermine social cohesion”.
On Sunday, the band wrote on Instagram that following their July 29 performance it was “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,” it went on.
“For our part, we did not imagine that merely holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognised by 157 countries 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.”
Singapore does not recognise a Palestinian state, with its foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, saying last year that the government could only support a two-state solution when Palestinians have an “effective government that accepts Israel’s right to exist and categorically renounces terrorism”.
The band added that the “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”.
And it said that it hoped 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”.
Singapore authorities led the investigation, which included consultation with the attorney general’s chambers, after Massive Attack allegedly breached the Foreign National Emblems (Control of Display) Act and the Public Order Act.
The statement said the band members would “also be banned from re-entering Singapore” while any future applications for them to perform there would not be approved.
Police “take a serious view of acts which could potentially harm the racial and religious harmony in Singapore and urge the public, including foreigners, to refrain from importing foreign politics as this can undermine our social cohesion and the rule of law”.
Del Naja was reportedly among 500 people arrested in April during a demonstration in London in support of Palestine Action.
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