Massive Attack have said they were detained by the police and their passports temporarily confiscated as Singapore banned the band members from re-entering the country over a pro-Palestine display during a concert.

In a statement on Sunday, the English trip-hop group said they 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,” the statement continued.

“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 Saturday, Singapore police said founding members Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall had been given “stern warnings” after they held up a Palestinian flag during the band's 29 July show at the Star Theatre and joined chants of “Free Palestine”.

The pair was also barred from re-entering the country, with authorities saying future applications for them to perform in Singapore would not be approved.

The country’s media regulator – the Infocomm Media Development Authority – said that it “will also not grant any future application for performances by the band in Singapore in view of the entry ban”.

In Singapore, it is illegal to display all foreign flags and national emblems without a permit due to the country’s strict public speech and assembly laws.

In 2023, Singapore’s home ministry advised against publicly displaying or wearing articles related to the war in Gaza, saying that “the peace and harmony between different races and religions in Singapore should not be taken for granted” and that “events happening externally” should not be allowed to affect the country.

Massive Attack also said in their statement that they were “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 & genocide, & we salute their courage in doing so”.

“Right across the world, the continued inaction of the “international community” is moving citizens to personal risk,” they added.

Describing the incident as a “surreal experience”, the group said it was “a reminder of the importance of defending universal human rights and freedom of expression wherever those rights are threatened”.

The band criticised the UK’s response to pro-Palestinian activism, writing: “At home in the UK peaceful protestors [are being] arrested under terrorism laws for holding up handwritten signs protesting genocide, despite appeals from all sides of the political spectrum.”

The UK government banned Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act in July 2025, making membership of, or support for, the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, the Metropolitan police have arrested more than 3,500 people on suspicion of expressing support for the group.

Last week, police arrested another 117 people outside Westminster Magistrates' Court after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a legal challenge against the ban.

Del Naja was among more than 500 people arrested in London in April during a demonstration against the ban, after holding a sign reading: “I Oppose Genocide, I Support Palestine Action.”

Massive Attack concluded: “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 & allow their citizens expressions of conscience without fear of state prosecution. As we were saying…Free Palestine.”

The band, which was formed in Bristol in 1988, currently consists of Del Naja and Marshall, with former members Andrew Vowles and Adrian Thaws having left in 1999 and 2016 respectively.

Massive Attack have been among the music industry’s most outspoken supporters of the Palestinian cause for more than two decades.

The Bristol band have boycotted performances in Israel since 1999, saying the decision was intended as “non-violent pressure” on the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestine and was “not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people”.

Since the war in Gaza began, the group have backed campaigns including No Music for Genocide, which urged artists and labels to geo-block their music from streaming in Israel, and have publicly defended artists including Kneecap over their pro-Palestinian activism.