Karachi Eats festival hit the cities of lights a few days back. A lot of unique food and talented actors performed there. But last night a major stampede happened because of poor management and the crowd.
On the last day of Karachi Eats 10th installment. The attendees shared harrowing accounts of harassment and groping. During the last ten years, the festival has been a platform for budding foodpreneurs. Who serves up the most innovative spread to a demanding audience of food enthusiasts of all ages.
Eyewitnesses at Beach View Park recalled one of the entrances being breached by stags as several miscreants entered the premises without tickets. Videos of the unruly crowd went viral right after, where many called out the organizers for a mismanaged event. “Gates crashed. Families were harassed,” Salman Muhammad, whose near and dear were present when the mishap happened.
Similar accounts of the night surfaced on Twitter as well. A user shared, “Made it out thank god.” The female attendee went on to add, “There were men outside the venue trying to get in to harass women. The police were trying to control them, and suddenly the lights went out and they were all hooting like crazy. Had to climb out of a broken wall to get safely to my car.”
Other’s repercussions
A verified account on Twitter shared a video from the event and penned, “Kaifi Khalil got hit by a bottle from the crowd, he was bleeding. Girls were getting harassed because of which young stunners didn’t perform and Karachi Eat was ended immediately. People broke the boundaries to get inside without tickets.”
Shedding light on the ongoing argument about traffic woes faced by the attendees at the venue, the organisers commented, “Of course, there are traffic issues. Would hold this event on the outskirts of the city limits help? Will we be safe sending our kids to other venues?”
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The statement concluded, “The idea of reclaiming our public spaces is what this event was about. This is why we started this. If we are now forced to do events in barren lands because we do not have the self-discipline or the responsibility to conduct ourselves in a manner that allows everyone to enjoy without feeling harassed then that is a sad statement on what we are as a society.”