Morrissey’s band appears on stage in anti-Assad t-shirts

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Members of the touring band for music icon Morrissey took the stage in Istanbul last night dressed in t-shirts protesting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Three of the four members of Morrissey’s band appeared on stage wearing t-shirts with the slogan "Assad is s***" and saluted the audience before the concert got started.

Power to the people, Morrissey sings

During the concert Morrissey unfolded a Turkish flag and hummed the words "give the power to the people." He then tossed the flag into the air, letting it fall to the ground, and receiving a strong reaction from the audience the rocker picked the flag up and threw it again.

Gaining both applause and criticism from the crowd, he picked up the flag one last time before tossing it towards members of the audience sitting at the front of the stage.

In the midst of his performance, Morrissey also bluntly declared politicians to be the "root of evil."

"People are the same everywhere," he said, before plunging into his song with the same title.

Not one to shy away from sharing his personal opinion, Morrissey’s concert also included his famous song “Meat is Murder” accompanied by video footage of animal cruelty acts.   

Several fans made it on stage during the show, including a little girl. Morrissey was kind to all intruders and often came to the end of the stage to make contact with the audience members crowded around the front of the stage.

Morrissey played for an hour-and-fifteen minutes to a nearly sold-out crowd at Istanbul's Cemil Topuzlu.