The Mary Wallopers set comes to crashing halt as Victorious cuts line after band chants 'Free Palestine'

Drinks have been launched at the Common Stage this afternoon (August 22), after the line was cut during The Mary Wallopers set a matter of minutes after they started.

This comes after the band started chanting ‘free Palestine’ while holding up the Palestinian flag, causing a major stir in the crowd, with many cheering on the band’s message.

As a result of the incident, tensions were seen rising in the crowd with many people using abusive language at one another, prompting a number of families to leave the area.

The stage was cleared with the band not returning to continue their set.

In a post on Instagram following their set, the band said: “Just got cut off at Victorious Festival for having a Palestinian flag on the stage.

“We’ve been doing this for 6 years now and this has never happened before. Free Palestine all day every day.”

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Afterwards Victorious issued a statement explaining its decision to pull the plug on the band.

Victorious spokesperson said: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show.

“Although a flag was displayed on stage contrary to our policy, and this was raised with the artist’s crew, the show was not ended at this point, and it was the artist’s decision to stop the song.

“The decision by the event management to cut the sound and end the performance was only taken after the band used a chant which is widely understood to have a discriminatory context.

“To be clear, we respect the right of artists to use their platform to express their views within the inclusive nature of the event and it was not the band’s call to ‘Free Palestine’ which resulted in this outcome.”