British pop star Dua Lipa’s first-ever tour of China ended in calamity on Wednesday night with fans being forcefully ejected from her Shanghai concert for waving gay pride flags and simply for standing up.
Over the last few hours, concert-goers have streamed onto Twitter, posting videos and condemning the brutality of the event’s security force.
“I just CANT believe it. This is the show of Dua Lipa in Shanghai. All the fans are forbidden to stand out and could only sit on to see the show?!? If you don’t, the guard would use violence to kick u out. It’s unbelievable,” wrote one fan who posted video of a security guard attempting to drag a female fan sitting close to the stage out of the concert while threatening audience members against standing up.
I just CANT believe it. This is the show of Dua Lipa in Shanghai. All the fans are forbidden to stand out and could only sit on to see the show?!? If you don’t, the guard would use violence to kick u out. It’s unbelievable… #dualipa pic.twitter.com/quITZNLVxU
— Ｎｅｏ (@imneo_) September 12, 2018
A more detailed video of another fan being kicked out right in front of the stage pic.twitter.com/b1aw3OjGj4
— LiberatedDex (@dexlav) September 12, 2018
In yet another video, a woman who is standing up and dancing playfully jumps into the arms of one security officer, only to be thrown to the ground and dragged away.
One more video…the girl was up on her feet so happy n thought they coming to interact with her, only to be smashed onto the ground and taken away.💔 Not every show in China is like this, it’s said @LiveNation instructed them to do so. We’re so sorry @DUALIPA had to witness. pic.twitter.com/Eo5XwOpsQY
— LiberatedDex (@dexlav) September 12, 2018
Standing up and dancing wasn’t the only thing that could get you kicked out of the venue, those waving gay pride flags were similarly roughly ejected by security, according to other concert-goers.
At @DUALIPA 's shanghai tour, few people been kicked out by the safeguard because they're waving Rainbow Flag #Dualipa #LGBT pic.twitter.com/3zhWXnaadK
— SubwaySucker (@dr_jolin) September 12, 2018
One video shows that security guards continued to harass fans even after kicking them out of the concert:
#DuaLipa #DuaLipaMNL #DuaLipaMNL2018 #Shanghai And this on is UNBELIEVABLE!!! The audience who were pulled out of the concert by security guards, and also beaten up outside by security guards!!!!!!! These security guards are totally hooligans!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/kON19ak6xH
— Belief WILD (@Belief_wild) September 12, 2018
Up on the stage, seeing her fans being roughly dragged out of her concert for standing up and dancing to her music brought the 23-year-old singer to tears.
“I want to create a really safe environment for us all to have fun. I want us all to dance. I want us all to sing, I want us all to just have a really good time,” Dua tearfully told her fans. “We’re not here for much longer, we have only a few more songs, and I would love in these last few songs for us to really, really, really enjoy ourselves. How about that?“
Dua Lipa Cried In Shanghai China Tonight pic.twitter.com/Tz17SRGpiH
— Liability (@958353005) September 12, 2018
It’s not clear why fans were not allowed to stand up and dance at the concert. The previous night, Dua had performed in Guangzhou and fans were allowed to be on their feet, according to Twitter users.
Meanwhile, being ejected from a concert in China for waving a gay pride flag is much less surprising. In addition, fans also claim that Dua was forced to wear especially long gloves during her performances in China to cover up her tattoos.
