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The Live Nation-backed hip-hop festival has been cancelled, as pro-democracy protestors continue to clash with Chinese authorities
By Jon Chapple on 14 Oct 2019
The new Rolling Loud festival has become the latest live music event to fall victim to the protests in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protestors continue to clash with Beijing-backed authorities.
The festival, announced in July, would have become the city’s first two-day hip-hop festival and feature performances by US talent including Wiz Khalifa, Migos, Playboi Carti and Ski Mask the Slump God. A spin-off of the flagship Miami event, Rolling Loud Hong Kong was set to take place this weekend, 19 and 20 October, at the Art Park in West Kowloon Cultural District.
Organiser Live Nation Electronic Asia broke news of the cancellation this morning, announcing on social media that, “after consulting with security experts, it has been determined that it is not possible to organize [sic] the upcoming Rolling Loud Hong Kong edition as we had hoped without endangering the safety and well-being of our fans, artists and staff.”
https://www.facebook.com/rollingloud.hk/posts/498842830971518:0
Fans who bought tickets through Rolling Loud’s own Universe-powered ticketing platform will be refunded within 45 working days, Live Nation adds.
Although many international acts have cancelled shows, Hongkongers have been turning to live entertainment as an escape from the escalating violence in the city, found an IQ report in August.
Vava, mainland China’s biggest female rapper, previously cancelled her appearance at Rolling Loud Hong Kong in support of the Hong Kong government, according to the SCMP.
Hong Kong – a former British territory which has since 1997 been a special administrative region (SAR) of communist China – has been wracked by protests, sparked by the introduction of a controversial bill that would allow Hongkongers to be extradited to the mainland, since July. The proposal has since been retracted, but protests for democratic reform continue.
Yesterday, after peaceful rallies turned into clashes with police, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China and the country’s president, warned that any attempt to “divide” the People’s Republic would lead to “bodies smashed and bones ground to powder”, reports the BBC.
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