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The Royal Opera House in London has described the act of a performer waving the Palestinian flag on stage as “completely inappropriate.”

According to a report published by Dawn citing AFP, the incident took place on Saturday during the final performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s four-act opera The troubadourconcluding an 11-day run at the Royal Opera House.

A video circulating on social media shows a brief altercation near the edge of the stage, where a man in a shirt and tie attempts — unsuccessfully — to stop the performer from waving the flag.

The act occurred during the final curtain call, just before the curtain came down, as the cast took their bows. A person claiming to be in the audience posted on platform X (formerly Twitter), saying:
“Extraordinary scenes at the Royal Opera House tonight. At the end of The troubadourone of the backstage performers came onstage, raised the Palestinian flag, stood still, didn’t bow or say anything.”

The audience member added: “Someone from backstage kept trying to take the flag from him. It was a very surreal moment.”

A spokesperson for the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, based in Covent Garden, stated that the action was taken without approval and was not sanctioned by the institution.

The incident comes at a time when several artists have expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza at various cultural events. At this year’s Glastonbury Music Festival, performers including Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Wolf Alice, and Amyl and The Sniffers used their stage time to voice support for Palestine.

UK police are reportedly still investigating the punk duo Every vylanafter their lead singer made statements against the Israeli military during a Glastonbury performance.

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