The Mary Wallopers ‘cut off’ from major festival for having Palestinian flag on stage

They've now released a statement.

The reasoning? Because they brought a Palestinian flag on stage and chanted Free Palestine before breaking into their first, and eventually only song, of the set.

Seconds into Bould O'Donoghue, a Victorious crew member came onto the stage and began speaking with bass player, Róisín Barrett, seemingly asking her to remove the Palestinian flag from her amp.

He then removed the flag from the amp himself, forcing the band to stop playing the song, and chant "Free Palestine".

Seconds later, their sound was cut off.

Now The Mary Wallopers themselves have released a video of the incident and a statement too.

Their statement reads: "Yesterday, a famine was declared in Gaza, where at least 65 people were killed by Israeli attacks, all the while Israel pushed ahead with plans to split the West Bank in two. These are the important facts about yesterday.

"We are uploading this video so everybody can see @victoriousfestival cut our gig short for having a Palestinian flag on stage. The festival have released a misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant and not the band’s call to Free Palestine.

"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”. The same crew member is later heard in the video saying “you aren’t playing until the flag is removed”.

"We completely reject Victorious’ portrayal of today’s events and request that they retract their statement immediately. We know this is getting some attention and we don’t want another distraction which takes attention away from the genocide that is happening in Palestine. FREE PALESTINE."

A number of bands and artists have come out in support of The Mary Wallopers including Kneecap, who wrote: "Our good pals The Mary Wallopers have just been pulled off stage and the PA shut down at @VictoriousFest in Portsmouth for taking out a Palestinian flag and saying Free Palestine.

"Speak up against genocide in England and you're treated like a criminal. Up the Mary Wallopers."