BENGALURU: A street performance by Ed Sheeran in India`s tech capital of Bengaluru was stopped abruptly by police on Sunday, outraging fans and prompting the British singer to issue a clarification.

Sheeran, dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts was seen singing and playing his guitar on a pavement in the centre of Bengaluru ahead of his concert on Sunday night. Local channels showed a policeman walking up to Sheeran as he was singing the hit single `Shape of You` and unplugging the microphone, as onlookers jeered.Sheeranleft soon after.

Police said event organisers had refused permission for the street performance, which was on one of the city`s busiest streets. `I refused to give permission because Church Street gets very crowded. That is the reason he was asked to vacate the place,` Bengaluru police official Shekar T Tekkannanavar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Sheeran, who began his career as a busker in the UK, said later on his Instagram account that he did have permission to perform. `It wasn`t just us randomly turning up. All good though,` he wrote.

Sheeran is in India for a series of concerts, and performed in front of thousands of people at an open ground in the city later that night, accompanied by Indian singer Shilpa Rao.-Reuters