Singer Pharrell Williams to face massive protest at South African concert

Members of pro-Palestinian group Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) are campaigning against the singer’s partnership with major South African retail group Woolworths, over its imports from Israel.

Pharrell Williams performs at the Singapore Grand Prix after-race concert on September 18, 2015 in Singapore. Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images

CAPE TOWN // Pharrell Williams faced the music on Monday as more than 500 Palestinian supporters protested outside a concert by the American chart-topper.

Members of pro-Palestinian group Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) are campaigning against the singer’s partnership with South African retail group Woolworths, over its imports from Israel.

The South African arm of the BDS movement vowed to hold “the largest protest any artist would have faced since the end of apartheid” at the Happy singer’s concert at Grand West Casino.

On Friday, the group won a court battle against an attempt by Cape Town authorities to limit the number of demonstrators to 150. It expected thousands to turn out.

This year, Pharrell became Woolworths’ new style director, the upmarket retailer said.

BDS accuses Woolworths of importing Israeli agricultural produce from the occupied territories, a charge the company denies.

It says less than 0.1 per cent of its food products are from Israel, and that the imports comply fully with South African government guidelines.

BDS said that if Pharrell wanted to make the world “happy”, he should join such artists as Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill, Roger Waters and others who have backed the non-violent BDS movement.

* Agence France-Presse