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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Abigail O'Leary

Mass brawl erupts during O2 Academy gig as rapper urges crowds to 'chill'

A mass brawl erupted amongst the crowd at a Birmingham O2 Academy gig as a rapper urged the crowd to 'chill'.

Footage of the brawl shows a group of around half a dozen men throwing punches, pushing and shoving at each other as Sidhu Moose Wala performed on stage.

As the situation escalates, the show is stopped as the artist asks everyone to calm down.

One lone voice is heard above the others shouting ‘bang him, bang him’.

There are collective boos across the venue as the rapper appeals to the crowd to “chill”.

At one point he is heard saying: “Birmingham, you need to chill.”

Crowds began fighting (Panjab Radio)

Other revellers try to break up the scuffle with one fighting faction filmed heading towards the exit doors.

The concert started at 6pm on Saturday, at the academy on Horsefair, in the city centre and is said to have continued.

People in the crowd are seen filming the shameful episode but it is not believed the matter was reported to West Midlands Police.

The gig was taking place at Birmingham's O2 Academy (Panjab Radio)

The video was uploaded online to Panjab Radio where it has been viewed thousands of times.

The radio station said on their Facebook page: “Sometimes we wonder- WHY ?”

Sidhu is a very popular Indian born singer, lyricist, rapper and actor associated with Punjabi music and cinema.

The 30-year-old moved to Canada where he released his first song ‘G Wagon’.

His concert at Surrey Music Festival last June was cancelled due to fears of violence.

Sidhu has performed at two sold-out concerts in London and Birmingham this weekend.

Sidhu Moose Wala was on stage at the time (Panjab Radio)

According to media reports, shows in Leicester and Leeds which were scheduled for earlier in the week were also shelved.

His official Twitter and Facebook pages made no reference to Saturday’s outbreak of violence.

The incident comes three months after rapper Krept was slashed backstage at the 1Xtra at Arena Birmingham in October.

Several audience members posted videos on social media which appeared to show scuffles in the crowd.

BBC Radio 1Xtra said security was the venue's responsibility, who declined to comment at the time.

Mirror Online has approached the O2 for a comment.

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