Massive Attack has described being banned from Singapore as a ‘surreal experience’ after displaying a Palestinian flag during their show at the Star theatre on Wednesday. The English trip-hop collective, whose current lineup includes Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja and Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall, became the subject of a police investigation after unfurling and displaying the flag while performing.
According to Singapore’s laws, the open display of all foreign flags, national emblems, or banners without a permit is banned. The country is known for its tough laws on public speech and assembly. On Sunday, the band issued a statement on Instagram, expressing their surprise and disappointment at being detained by the police, isolated, and separately questioned, with some members subjected to hotel room searches and temporary passport confiscation.
The statement read that before and after the show, large sections of the auditorium led chants of ‘Free Palestine’, presumably aware but undeterred that this spontaneous expression alone could violate the government’s censorship laws. The band stated that they did not imagine that merely holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognized by 157 countries would violate any law.
Massive Attack said the experience was a ‘reminder of the importance of defending universal human rights and freedom of expression, wherever those rights are threatened.’ They added that peaceful protestors in the UK are being arrested under terrorism laws for holding up handwritten signs protesting genocide, despite appeals from all sides of the political spectrum.
The band concluded by expressing gratitude to the people of Singapore who made them feel welcome and hoped that the Government of Singapore would choose to ratify the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and allow their citizens expressions of conscience without fear of state prosecution. They ended with the statement, ‘As we were saying… Free Palestine.’
The Singapore police force and the Infocomm Media Development Authority released a statement on Saturday, saying that police had investigated both Del Naja and Marshall for their actions of support for a political cause and unfurling of a foreign flag. The authorities issued ‘stern warnings’ to both men for allegedly breaching the Foreign National Emblems (Control of Display) Act and the Public Order Act, and they will also be banned from re-entering Singapore.
