World Cup 2019: Plane with Balochistan protest banner flies over Edgbaston

A small plane with a banner bearing the message "World must speak up for Balochistan" circled the Edgbaston cricket ground during the World Cup 2019 semifinal between Australia and England.

Plane with a protest message about Pakistani province Balochistan flies over Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Thursday.

Small aircrafts towing political messages continued to embarrass the host country after a plane with a message in support of Balochistan flew over the Edgbaston cricket stadium during the second semifinal between England and Australia here Thursday.

A small plane has circled the ground five times while trailing a protest banner in the skies of Birmingham which read, “World must speak up for Balochistan,” a province in Pakistan.

This was not the first time small aircrafts carrying political messages flew over the venues during the ongoing World Cup.

During the India-Sri Lanka group match, a plane flew over the Headingley Cricket Ground with banners reading, “Justice for Kashmir,” and “India stop genocide & free Kashmir.”

READ | Airplane flies over Headingley with 'Justice for Kashmir' banner

It was further followed by another plane with a message to stop mob lynching in India.

Before that, during the Pakistan-Afganistan match, a banner was towed also about Balochistan.

Red-faced by such repeated incidents and pressure from the BCCI, the ICC and the Local Organising Committee were forced to declare the air space over Old Trafford as no-fly zone during the first semifinal between India and New Zealand.

But the India-New Zealand tie too witnessed its share of drama when four Pro-Khalistan Sikh spectators were evicted from the stadium by the ICC for sporting T-shirts with political messages.