British singer Dua Lipa ended up in tears during her Shanghai concert last night after a large number of fans were said to be forcefully removed by Chinese security guards – apparently for waving rainbow flags.

Eyewitnesses told MailOnline some other fans were ejected simply because they had been standing up.

Faced with the calamity, the pop singer was so upset and appeared to cry as she consoled her fans from the stage.

A video circulating on Twitter shows the singer addressing to her fans: ‘I want to create a really safe environment for us all to have fun. I want us all to dance.

‘I want us all to sing, I want us all to just have a really good time.

‘We’re not here for much longer, we have only a few more songs, and I would love in these last few songs for us to really, really, really enjoy ourselves. How about that?’

In an Instagram post today, the star said she was ‘horrified’ by the incident, and expressed her love for her ‘brave’ fans.

She wrote: ‘I will stand by you all for your love and beliefs and I am proud and grateful that you felt safe enough to show your pride at my show.’

Security guards stormed into the arena holding laser pointers and flash torches shortly after the concert began and when thousands of excited young fans were singing along with Dua Lipa, according to one fan who was at the scene.

The fan, who only wished to be known as Elsa, told MailOnline before the security guards appeared, the atmosphere of the concert had been great and orderly.

The 18-year-old Dua Lipa fan, a university student, said many fans were standing up as they enjoyed the music, but all of sudden the security guards demanded them sit down.

She said she also saw one man being removed after allegedly waving a rainbow flag while many more flags were confiscated by the staff.

‘Many fans at the front rows were holding the rainbow flags high, and I heard they were ordered to take down the flags, especially the fans in the first three rows,’ said Elsa who paid 980 yuan (£109) for a most expensive ticket to the concert.

She said she liked Dua Lipa because the singer championed equality between men and women and spread many positive messages to her fans.

‘As a lover of western pop music and culture, this incident has broken my heart,’ she said, adding that she hoped the event wouldn’t bring negative impact on Dua Lipa’s music future in China.

Another concert-goer, who wished to stay anonymous in fear of repercussions, told MailOnline that she saw one fan, a female, being kicked out by several security guards.

It was alleged that the fan had given one of the security guards the middle finger after being told to sit down. The two parties then had verbal altercations before the security guards removed the fan by force.

The girl, who also bought a highest-priced ticket, claimed that fans were being kicked out ‘non-stop’ throughout the concert.

However, she said it was unclear why the security guards had forbidden the crowds from carrying rainbow flags.

Videos of fans being kicked out of the concert have become widely shared on social media, with most web users criticising the security guards’ brutal behaviour.

One music critic wrote on his account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, condemning the concert staff’s act, calling it ‘out of line’.

The critic said: ‘The fact that fans would sometimes stand up to take pictures and applaud during concerts are completely acceptable and controllable.

‘There is no need (for the staff) to catch them and kick them out as if they were fugitives.’

Dua Lipa had her first tour to China this week, with one concert in Guangzhou on Tuesday and another yesterday in Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center.

The singer has openly supported the LGBT community in her music video ‘Blow Your Mind’, but to the Chinese authority gay rights remain a taboo topic.

Many mainstream Chinese media make an effort to remove any LGBT symbols in their coverage.

A Chinese TV station cut out a gay-themed dance and blurred the rainbow flags in the audience while broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year.

MailOnline has contacted Dua Lipa’s representatives and the organiser of the singer’s China tour for comments, and is awaiting their replies.