Akon was serving a free gig at a Danish mall when a fire alarm broke out and people started to get violent in protest.
- Feb 22, 2008
AceShowbiz - Good things turn bad, Akon's free concert ended up in a disaster. The R'n'B crooner was featured as a performer in a free-for-public gig at Copenhagen's Fields Shopping Mall but larger than life crowd decided to get violent when a fire alarm was pulled.
The organizers of the concert held Wednesday, February 20 were having difficulties even before Akon ascended the stage. The venue could only admit a 1,000 people but those who came up rounding up around 2,000 to 3,000 people. Some latecomers were turned away at the door and were forced to watch from afar.
Fields director Jens Geppel said, "It was a free concert and we knew that many people would come, but there were a lot of people there, more than we had expected."
The violence that came in the shape of a riot, occurred when Akon was performing his third set and a fire alarm broke out. Although it turned out to be false, authorities escorted the audience to the exit as part of evacuation routine. They began protesting and several dozens began throwing rocks and bottles at the officers.
Police then managed to grab a hold of eight people suspected to be involved in the riot. There were no serious injuries but emergency services had to treat a number of people. Meanwhile, investigations on what went wrong during the show are currently conducted by the mall.
