Massive Attack has canceled its July 28 concert in Tbilisi, Georgia in solidarity with the protests taking place in the country against the passage of the foreign agents law and against another law that seeks to undermine the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
These are two laws inspired by Russian legislation that ally Georgia with the Kremlin and distance the country from entering the European Union.
The Georgian government has responded to the protests with violence, and Massive Attack has spoken out: “Right now, performing at the Black Sea Arena could be seen as supporting their violent response against peaceful protests and civil society,” he said. declared the group in a message published in their stories. «The beatings, arrests, threats and violence against people who demonstrate peacefully, as well as against activists and opponents; and the laws that reduce the rights of civil society and deny LGBTQ+ rights, all of this is against the values we defend.
In the same message, Massive Attack has positioned itself “in solidarity with the peaceful protesters in Georgia who challenge state violence and who believe that their voices must be heard and that their struggle deserves international focus.”