POP/ROCK - April 8, 1987

Paul Simon’s concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall went off without delays, despite the presence of 60 anti-apartheid demonstrators who were protesting Simon’s “Graceland” LP, which was recorded in South Africa and thus may have broken the cultural ban against the separatist nation. The protesters--who represented the African National Congress and two British groups, the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Artists Against Apartheid--handed out leaflets, waved banners and chanted slogans, but the action seemed to have little effect on the more than 6,000 fans streaming into the hall. The protesters also sent an open letter to Simon, demanding that the American singer “make a full apology to the United Nations for his actions.”