The neon red text, which read “Resist the attempted silencing of Julian Assange,” was projected onto a black backdrop before his concert on Saturday night. Waters, who is known for making radical political statements on stage, is an admirer of Assange and has previously featured images of the whistleblower in his shows.
Assange is unlikely to see the message of support, however. Housed in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since claiming asylum in 2012, the Australian has been banned from using the phone and internet for several weeks. He is also prohibited from having visitors.
Roger Waters concert last night in Berlin #PinkFloyd “Resist the attempted silencing of @JulianAssange” pic.twitter.com/2dQw61VpB1 — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 3, 2018
The new restrictions were enforced in March after the 46-year old broke a vow to cease all “political activity” by speaking out about the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury. This followed repeated statements about Spain’s bid to quash the Catalan independence movement.
In April, Waters denounced the Syrian opposition group the ‘White Helmets’ while on stage in Barcelona. “The White Helmets is a fake organization that exists only to create propaganda for jihadists and terrorists. That’s my belief,” he said.
Waters has also stated his opposition to the state of Israel and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. In an interview with RT in August last year, the rock legend called out Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for refusing to participate in a boycott movement in pursuit of equal rights for Palestinians. READ MORE: Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters hits out at musicians for crossing Israel ‘picket line’. In the interview, Waters reiterated his belief that artists who perform in Israel are “making a public statement that they do endorse the policies of the government.”
The Free 