Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja has been arrested on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation after attending a mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action.
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Del Naja, also known as 3D, was among hundreds of fellow demonstrators who took to Trafalgar Square on Saturday (March 12) to protest the ban on Palestine Action, and held up a sign that read “I Oppose Genocide, I Support Palestine Action”.
In footage of his arrest, Del Naja can be seen being approached by police officers who tell him he is being put under arrest, before carrying him away from the demonstration as other protesters cheer and applaud.
Before his arrest, Del Naja told the Press Association (via The Guardian) that he wanted to attend the protest regardless of the consequences a potential arrest could have on his ability to tour.
Del Naja – who is due to play a series of shows across Europe this summer – said that “being a musician, obviously, there was a lot of trepidation around how we might not be able to travel and get visas.
“But I thought, ‘This is ridiculous’, and then the police making that U-turn to arrest people again, I thought that is even more ridiculous. So I’m going to hold a sign today. If I get arrested, I feel very confident that if I stand up in court with the right guidance and say, ‘This was an unlawful arrest and, therefore, I don’t accept it’.”
BREAKING: Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja unlawfully arrested under the Terrorism Act.
He was amongst hundreds of protestors arrested for holding signs which say "I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action".
The ban is unlawful, and so are these arrests. pic.twitter.com/FOgvC0z7x2
— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) April 11, 2026
He added: “I think that the actions of Palestine Action were highly patriotic because they were pretty much protecting our country from getting involved in serious war crimes and breaking international law. How much more patriotic can you be than that?”
Earlier this year, Massive Attack responded to the ban on Palestine Action being deemed unlawful by the high court, and said at the time that Keir Starmer’s government “wanted to punish those who made their complicity in a genocide visible”, and had “confected an authoritarian law to retaliate against peaceful citizens holding signs”.
Referencing the Filton 24 – who in 2024 allegedly broke into and sabotaged an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol which produces weapons for the Israeli military – they went on to say that “the highest price has been paid by those on the receiving end of this government’s vindictive guilt”.
Upon news of the arrests at the end of last year, Del Naja – along with Kneecap’s Móglái Bap and Garbage – shared posts from campaigners who claimed that the prisoners were “being held without bail in British prisons” and alleging that “three hunger strikers had been hospitalised”.
Around that same time, Kneecap and Massive Attack jointly called for fans to contact Secretary of State for Justice David Lammy MP to intervene in the safeguarding of Palestine Action prisoners on hunger strike in the UK.
Bualadh Bos agus solidarity with Robert Del Naja 🇵🇸👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/1V0G2TwmCt
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 11, 2026
Massive Attack have expressed support for Palestine in several other ways ways too, and last summer joined Primal Scream in slamming the government for allowing the arrest of “peaceful citizens” at a Palestine Action demonstration in London.
In September, they also joined Fontaines DC, Amyl & The Sniffers and over 400 other artists in backing the No Music For Genocide campaign, and later added that they would be fully boycotting Spotify. The latter, they said, was due to reports that the streamer’s CEO Daniel Ek had made significant investments “in a company producing military munition drones and AI technology integrated into fighter aircraft”.
Massive Attack have boycotted performing in Israel since 1999 and, last spring, issued a statement supporting Kneecap after it was announced that the Irish trio were under investigation by counter-terrorism police in the UK.
The case against Kneecap’s Móglaí Bap was dropped last September due to a technicality relating to the way in which it was brought about. At the time, the Chief Magistrate told the court that the charge was “unlawful” and “null”.