The Download Festival is taking place this weekend at Donington Park in Leicestershire, UK, but a bunch of the best young hardcore bands in the world will not be there as scheduled. Several groups have dropped off the lineup today after learning that Barclays, which has strong ties to arms companies that sell weapons to Israel, is a sponsor of the fest.

The Leeds crossover thrash band Pest Control kicked off the movement earlier today by posting the following message on Instagram:

We have made the decision to pull out of our upcoming shows at Download Festival this week (Wednesday 12th June + Sunday 16th June).

This is due to us taking part in the boycott against Barclays Bank, who are Download Festival’s payment partner and sponsor. Barclays Bank oversees billions of dollars in investments and loans to companies whose weapons and technology are are used in Israel’s onslaught against the Palestinian people. We will not take part in an event whose sponsor profits from facilitating a genocide.

We’re sorry to anyone who was looking forward to seeing us perform. This is something we’ve been looking forward to for the best part of a year and was a big milestone for us as a band. However, we cannot sacrifice the principles held by this band and by the scene we come from and represent, just for personal gain.

The Palestine Solidary Campaign is spearheading the boycott against Barclays. Since Pest Control’s message, bands including Scowl (pictured), Zulu, and Speed have all posted similar messages identifying Barclays’ involvement as reason for dropping off the Download Festival lineup. The consistent message from these bands: “Free Palestine.” Read their messages below.

https://twitter.com/Scowl40831/status/1800217604185035156

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A post shared by PEST CONTROL (@pestcontrolthrash)

UPDATE: All these bands are now performing at a last-minute Palestine benefit show instead. It’s going down this Friday at Centralia in Birmingham:

https://twitter.com/Scowl40831/status/1800519786449064118