Hundreds of people wreak havoc on Mediamarkt before meet and greet with Dutch rapper

Hundreds of people wreak havoc on Mediamarkt before meet and greet with Dutch rapper
The signing session got out of hand before the rapper even arrived. Credit: Google Street View

Hundreds of people have ravaged a Mediamarkt store in Antwerp where a Dutch rapper was supposed to do a meet and greet with fans.

On Wednesday afternoon, a meet and greet with Dutch rapper Josylvio in the Mediamarkt store on the De Keyserlei in Antwerp got out of hand. The rapper, who was the most-streamed artist in the Netherlands in 2018, was supposed to come to the store to meet hundreds of fans and sign CDs. However, several people started throwing the CDs and vandalised the store before the rapper even showed up.

"Suddenly, several men came in and started causing trouble," said Janic De Saedeleer from Mediamarkt to VRT NWS. "They started throwing CDs, chips, and everything they could get their hands on. There was also a lot of pushing and pulling going on," he added.

"We were asked to come because the staff of the Mediamarkt could not handle the masses anymore," said Willem Migom of the police. "With several teams, we escorted the people out of the store, and everything calmed down quickly after that. No arrests were made," he added.

"Computer games were taken out of their packagings, and at least one television got broken," said Roel (16) who was there to see the rapper, to Het Laatste Nieuws. "It is really sad that a few hotheads ruined it for everyone," he added.

The rapper reacted to the incident via social media. "It was chaos, which was sad," he said on Instagram. "I was not allowed to come down for signatures or photos anymore. I will set this right for Antwerp," he said.

The Mediamarkt on the De Keyserlei was closed for the rest of the day to avoid new incidents. On Thursday, the store reopened. It is not yet clear what exactly the damage is and what has been stolen from the store.

Maïthé Chini

The Brussels Times


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