From Iceland — Social Media Stars Cause Mall Chaos

Social Media Stars Cause Mall Chaos

Published January 6, 2014

Thousands of teenagers gathered at Smáralind mall in Kópavogur yesterday to see social media stars Jerome Jarre and Nash Grier, reports RÚV. Jarre and Grier, who have gained fame through Vine and YouTube respectively, used Vine to arrange the event at Smáralind and invite people along.

Police had to be called to the mall to bring order and get the stars to safety after the crowd became unmanageable for the mall security on staff.

A number of shop owners at Smáralind reacted to the sudden onslaught of people by closing their stores. Minor injuries and damage to parked cars has also been reported by Vísir.

Andri Marinó Karlsson, a photographer on the scene described being stuck in the crowd: “It was impossible to move, it was a total nightmare, I’m actually still in shock.

“I saw children fall against the Christmas tree and you could hear crying children who it turned out had been hurt.”

Sturla Eðvarsson, director of Smáralind mall said that he had no idea who Jarre was but that it was as though the Beatles were there.

Jarre has posted an apology on Twitter: “I want to apologize to everyone that came to Smáralind. Fyrirgefðu 🙁 We never expected that many people. I really hope nobody is hurt!! :(“

Jarre added later that he had only wanted to make people happy.

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