Two members of Massive Attack have been banned from re-entering Singapore after the group displayed a Palestinian flag during a concert at Singapore's Star Theatre on 29 July.

Singaporean authorities confirmed on Saturday that Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall were investigated for "their actions of support for a political cause and unfurling of a foreign flag," and that any future applications for them to perform in the country would not be approved, according to Rolling Stone.

The Bristol group responded in an Instagram post on Sunday, describing what happened after the show ended. Their entire band was detained by police, they said — isolated and separately questioned, with some members subjected to hotel room searches and temporary passport confiscation.

Massive Attack said that before they set foot on stage, and again at the end of the show, large sections of the auditorium organically led chants of "Free Palestine." The band said they did not imagine that holding up the flag of a sovereign state recognised by 157 countries would violate any law.

They called the experience "surreal" and "a reminder of the importance of defending universal human rights and freedom of expression," and said they were proud to have made the impromptu expression alongside fans in Singapore "who felt a moral imperative to show solidarity with the people of Palestine."

Following the concert, local authorities confirmed that the police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), Singapore's media regulator, had opened a probe into the flag display and the audience chant.

Singapore's government bars the public display of foreign national emblems, including the Palestinian flag, without a permit or exemption. Two laws are relevant here: one bans the display of foreign flags in public in most cases, and another sets conditions on public events of a political nature, as reported by the BBC. The home affairs ministry said in 2023 that the country clamped down on "the public display and wearing of articles" in relation to the Gaza war.

The band's statement concluded by thanking the people of Singapore and urging the government to ratify the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — a treaty that guarantees freedoms of expression and assembly — and to allow citizens "expressions of conscience without fear of state prosecution."

Del Naja, Massive Attack's frontman, was arrested at a London demonstration earlier this year, according to Rolling Stone. The group has a long history of political activism, but the Singapore ban applies a legal framework that treats the public display of a foreign flag as a matter requiring state authorisation rather than individual expression.

For Del Naja and Marshall, the ban is effectively permanent: authorities said future performance applications from either member will not be approved.