Influencer Anna Paul has delivered a video message to fans involved in an incident in Perth, Australia, where the TikTok and OnlyFans star's promotional event descended into crowd chaos and had to be shut down by police.
Paul, 23, has been touring the country as part of her collaboration with activewear brand STAX, and had advertised fan meet-and-greet events in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
But during her appearance at Perth's Hay Street Mall on Sunday chaos erupted when a massive crowd of teenagers turned out to see the social media star.
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Organisers had only expected 100-300 people to attend, but a significantly larger crowd showed up to the first event in Sydney, and became a precursor for what was to come at the ones that followed.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME."I thought only, like, 100 people would come", Paul said in a video posted online yesterday night .
"When in Sydney people started lining up, we were shocked."
It quickly became apparent that crowd numbers had also been underestimated at her next appearance in Melbourne, so Paul said her team hired more security and called Western Australia Police to notify them of her upcoming event in Perth.
"STAX ordered so much security that I thought it was overkill," she continued.
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But it ultimately wasn't enough to safely manage the volume of people who flocked to see Paul and police were forced to shut the event down, saying it couldn't possibly go on for even "another 20 seconds", Paul told viewers in the clip.
Passionate fans chanted her name as they filled the street, while one eager fan even brought a pony to the event.
"It was OK for the first 20 minutes but cops then said 'OK, we've got to shut this down (for safety reasons) … There's too many people'," she said.
Police said they were forced to act after tensions began to boil over among the crowd and queue-jumping lead to several people collapsing and in need of medical assistance.
"Due to the size of the crowd and lack of appropriate security and other event planning in place to cope with the larger than expected crowd, and in consultation with the store management, the event was closed down and police commenced dispersing the crowd from the area," a police spokesman said.
According to Paul, police told her "the last time (they) saw something like this was for a Justin Bieber concert", she said in the video.
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"The most important thing out of this whole experience is that nobody got seriously injured," she said.
"That's all we cared about. We're so grateful for that.
"It should have been ticketed and we know that now, and in the future we will definitely be organising it for a way bigger crowd. Because we honestly had no idea how it would turn out."
perths anna paul meet and greet has been CANCELLED pic.twitter.com/UQfOXzaDjj
— best person ever (@whoslucaas) August 28, 2022Fans were seen lining up for the event at 8am.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.One person claimed fans had camped overnight to meet Paul.
"I got there at 2am and got to see her but only for a split second and barely could say anything but still very grateful. So sad it got cancelled," one said.
The Queenslander, who has more than five million TikTok fans and two million on Instagram, earlier posted to social media apologising for the event being cancelled and saying she'd tried to work with police to control it.
"Due to safety, the West(ern) Australian Police had to shut down the Perth meet and greet early," she wrote.
"It became a huge safety hazard."
"Thank you for being amazing," she wrote.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME."I am so-so sorry. We tried our best to work with the police but it got too much."
"Your safety is our #1 concern always. I love you."
The event was expected to run from 12pm-4pm.
Multiple attendees claimed no one came out to inform them of the cancellation and they only found about it through Paul's Instagram story.
Paul became a social media sensation after fans watched her blossom from a "broke" young woman into a hugely successful content creator.
She recently collaborated with activewear brand "STAX" and created a limited-edition collection, which went on presale on Friday.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.The collection contains leggings, active bras, hats, socks, skirts and dresses.
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