AhlulBayt News Agency: Several bands have pulled out of a major UK music festival after an Irish folk band said organizers cut their set when they displayed a Palestinian flag and chanted “Free Palestine.”
The Mary Wallopers were performing at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth on Friday when organizers accused them of using a chant “widely understood to have a discriminatory context.”
The Mary Wallopers dismissed the allegation as “misleading,” saying, “Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of ‘Free Palestine’.”
Organizers first claimed the set was stopped over a chant, but later admitted the sound was cut after the flag was shown. They apologized “to all concerned” and pledged a “substantial donation” to humanitarian relief for Palestinians.
In protest, The Last Dinner Party, The Academic and Cliffords announced on Saturday that they would boycott the festival over censorship.
“We are outraged by the decision to silence The Mary Wallopers,” The Last Dinner Party wrote on Instagram, calling it “political censorship.”
The Academic said they could not “in good conscience” perform at a festival that silences free speech, while Cliffords said they “refuse to play if we are to be censored for showing our support to the people of Palestine.”
The festival, which continues through Sunday with headliners including Kings of Leon, Bloc Party and Gabrielle, now faces growing backlash over silencing pro-Palestinian protest.
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