Fans rushed security barriers and charged their way into a concert at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday night, in scenes less than a month after the deadly Astroworld crowd crush in the United States.
Mostly young fans were at the former Millennium Dome to see Wizkid, the Nigerian singer and songwriter, as part of his Made In Lagos tour.
The “No Stress” hitmaker is playing three nights at the North Greenwich venue. According to the venue website, the first two dates were sold out and the third was added at a later stage “due to demand”.
In videos shared on social media, a crowd can be seen surging through the main security checkpoint as workers attempt to stop them.
At one point, a metal-detecting arch gives way to the crush and topples over. In another video, a woman appears to push a venue security worker after he grabs another member of the public.
“Watch peeps break into the O2 just to watch Wizzy perform,” one man wrote on Twitter, alongside one of the clips being shared. Meanwhile, a woman with a different video wrote: “I’m so confused. Why are they going on like Wizkid has never performed in London before.”
The situation was eventually “contained” and solved by the arena’s security staff, according to the O2.
“This evening, a breach of the security cordon on the arena entrance occurred and as a result, a number of fans in the queue were able to enter the venue. The situation was quickly contained by staff and the incident resolved,” a spokesperson for the arena told The Independent.
“The venue is reviewing security procedures for the remaining shows this week and advises fans to arrive early for security checks tomorrow night and again on Wednesday.”
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It comes just three weeks after 10 people died, and dozens more were injured, on the first night of rapper Travis Scott’s two-day Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas.
At least 50,000 people gathered for the third annual event on 5 November, with crowd-control issues being blamed for the eventual tragedies. People were reportedly jumping over turnstiles and fences to enter the sold-out festival without tickets, which led to a crowd size organisers were unprepared for and onsite medical units becoming overwhelmed.
One woman on Twitter compared the two events, writing: “People without tickets rushing in to the O2 like Astroworld wasn’t a couple weeks ago..? Y’all too weird for me.”
