Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja arrested again over Palestine Action sign, this time outside Labour conference
Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack was arrested under the Terrorism Act in Liverpool on September 26, 2026, outside the Labour Party conference venue, for holding a sign reading "I oppose genocide I support Palestine Action". It was his second arrest over the same sign in 2026, after a Trafalgar Square sit-in on April 11 where 523 people were arrested.
By Riffiter
Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja was arrested in Liverpool on Saturday, September 26, outside ACC Liverpool, the venue where the Labour Party conference opened the next day. He was sitting on the pavement with a placard that read "I oppose genocide I support Palestine Action". Police arrested him under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation. It is the second time this year the same sign has ended the same way.
What he said
In the video of the arrest, which the band posted to Instagram, an officer first asks whether there is "anything I can do to have a conversation with you to move you out of the area because you are committing an offence". Del Naja stays seated. "I don't recognise the offence, though," he answers, "because under UK law it is actually an offence to aid and abet any private individual or company aiding and abetting genocidal war crimes." He also told officers he did not agree with the proscription.
More than 200 people protested outside the conference that day, and he was not the only one arrested. As of Sunday no outlet had reported whether he was released, bailed or charged.
The first time
On April 11, Del Naja joined a mass sit-in against the ban in Trafalgar Square, carrying the same words. The Metropolitan Police arrested 523 people that day, aged 18 to 87, and officers carried him away. Before the arrest he told the Press Association: "Being a musician, obviously, there was a lot of trepidation around how we might not be able to travel and get visas." Five months later he took the same sign to the conference of the party in government.
The ban
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 5, 2025 | The UK government proscribes Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 |
| February 13, 2026 | The High Court rules the ban unlawful but leaves it in force while the government appeals |
| April 11, 2026 | 523 arrested in Trafalgar Square, Del Naja among them |
| June 15, 2026 | The Court of Appeal rules the proscription lawful |
| September 26, 2026 | Del Naja arrested again, in Liverpool |
Showing support for a proscribed group is a criminal offence that can carry up to 14 years in prison. Between the ban and the end of April 2026, at least 3,070 people were arrested for it, according to figures reported by Anadolu Agency.
A summer of it
Liverpool was not a one-off for the band. On July 29, Del Naja and Grant Marshall displayed a Palestinian flag onstage in Singapore. Both were questioned, their hotel rooms were searched and their passports were held, and on August 4 the band learned they were barred from returning to the country. Earlier in September they publicly backed Macklemore after he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour, writing that "'neutrality' in the face of the slaughter of more than 20,000 children can never be neutrality". And in 2025 they pulled their catalogue from Spotify over Daniel Ek's investment in the military technology company Helsing.
Their last full album is still Heligoland, from 2010. Mezzanine, from 1998, is the one most people start with.