Massive Attack slam “ugly, unrecognisable government” after “peaceful citizens” arrested at Palestine Action demo

Massive Attack have slammed the government for allowing the arrest of “peaceful citizens” at a Palestine Action demonstration in London.

Over 500 people were arrested at the huge protest in central London last Saturday (August 9), according to The Guardian. The demonstration was organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries and featured widespread support of Palestine Action, a direct action organisation that has been proscribed as a terrorist group by the UK government.

The group’s proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 means membership or public support for the group is classified as a criminal offence and could result in up to 14 years in jail.

Yesterday (August 10), Primal Scream criticised the arrests, and now Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja has also been scathing about people being detained in a lengthy Instagram post.

“UK civil liberties are trapped in a deeply cynical, manufactured crisis,” he began. “Peaceful citizens of conscience (including the frail, the blind, pensioners, poets, vicars & a retired colonel from the British Army) have become terrorists, at the will of a human rights lawyer turned authoritarian; who now lunges at opinions that expose the moral vacuum of his ugly, unrecognisable government.”

His statement added: “The ultimate truth though is that this is not really about silent, crouched citizens surrounded by packs of 10 burly British police men & women & thrown in caged vans, nor the politicians with the masks of corporate lobbying & genocide complicity torn from their faces.

“It’s about trying to fill with distractions the vast & expanding gulf between the horror of the British public – of more than 2 years of the citizens of Gaza, burning alive in tents, being shot dead in food queues, or dropping dead where they stand from starvation – and the duplicitous, arrogant & cowardly complicity of their government.”

He also went on to criticise Home Secretary Yvette Cooper over the arrests: “On Saturday, 521 distressed citizens peacefully & reluctantly wasted police time; because wasting police time is now the official policy of Yvetter Cooper; a Home Secretary who views your civil liberties as a useful political device.

“Those 521 people are willing to pay with their liberty for the vindictive shame of those they elected to power. I hope none of us repeat that mistake at future elections.”

Speaking to NME recently, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he welcomed young people and new acts that are largely sympathetic towards Palestine speaking out, but is against “incitement to violence”, referring to Kneecap‘s views.

“Kneecap shouldn’t be performing at Glastonbury, and I don’t support inciting violence as free speech,” he said. “I think it’s important that we distinguish the issues we all care about and should be spoken about freely on the one hand, and then the incitement to violence on the other. They’re two different things.”

He went on: “There’s a huge difference between speaking out about what’s happening in parts of the world. All of us are concerned by what we’re seeing in Gaza – whether that’s the continued detention of hostages or the intolerable lack of aid that we’re seeing, starvation… everybody should be able to speak out about that.”

Elsewhere, Massive Attack recently announced an alliance of musicians speaking out over Gaza against “intimidations from within” the music industry.

Refugee charity Choose Love and celebrities including Dua Lipa, Riz Ahmed, Primal Scream and Benedict Cumberbatch recently hit back at Starmer’s response to call to “end UK complicity in Gaza”. “We need action not words,” they wrote.

Primal Scream, meanwhile, will also perform as part of the ‘Gig For Gaza’ in London in October, alongside Paul Weller, Inhaler and others.