Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja calls protest arrest “total madness”

Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja was amongst 500 protestors arrested in central London over the weekend as he took part in a Palestine Action demonstration.

The protest took place at Trafalgar Square on Saturday, April 11, and was attended by hundreds who showed support for those afflicted by the ongoing Gaza genocide, and against the 2025 proscription of Palestine Action by the UK government.

Police swept in to arrest protestors on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation, bringing the total number of arrests in relation to the organisation up to 2,700.

Robert Del Naja appeared at the demonstration holding a placard reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. A video was later shared online of his arrest, showing him being carried away by police officers.

Read this next: Massive Attack refute claims that they used surveillance tech at live shows

When asked why he was being detained, Del Naja replied: “I’m being unlawfully arrested”. He was one of 500 protestors who were arrested on Saturday.

Del Naja has since issued a statement in response to his arrest, writing: “In Britain in 2026 you can be arrested under the Terrorism Act for sitting in silence, holding a cardboard sign stating that you oppose genocide and support non-violent action to prevent it.”

“Throughout the Israeli genocide in Gaza most people, myself included, felt like they were gradually going mad. How could the world, including the British government, possibly allow this to happen?”

Read this next: Calls made for strike in solidarity with Palestine from within the dance music community

He condemned the “inexplicable policies” of British news outlets, who he says “refused to name the identity of committing one atrocity after another, after another,” calling it “total madness”.

“Of course, everyone knows this is total madness (including many of the police officers making these arrests, and the High Court judges who recently ruled them unlawful), and yet, somehow it continues.”

Del Naja went on to argue that “the sense of madness can be overcome” by demanding that “our government upholds international laws that previous generations sacrificed their lives for”.

Read Robert Del Naja’s statement in full below.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Associate Digital Editor, follow her on X