LONDON – Four people were hospitalized in critical condition on Friday after hundreds of people burst into a London concert hall during a performance by Nigerian Afrobeats star Asake.
Police said eight people were taken to hospitals after being caught in a crowd trying to get into the O2 Brixton Academy. Two other injured were treated at the scene.
Police said emergency services were called Thursday night after “a large crowd tried to gain entry without tickets”. Video footage taken by bystanders shows a crowd of hundreds outside the concert hall and dozens of people pushing through the doors and rushing upstairs.
The concert was interrupted and a promoter took the stage to tell the audience that people had “broke down the doors”.
The Metropolitan Police Force said officers, ambulance crews and firefighters arrived and found “a number of people with injuries believed to have been caused by crushing”.
The force said they will conduct a thorough investigation into what happened and how officers responded. Footage shows an officer appearing to push a woman down a few steps at the entrance to the venue.
Metropolitan Police Gold Commander Ade Adelekan said officers who use force “know they must be held accountable for their actions”. He said the officers’ body-worn video footage was being examined as part of an investigation into the incident.
“This is an extremely worrying incident which has left four people critically ill in hospital. My thoughts and prayers are with them and their families,” he said. “A police investigation has been launched and it will be as thorough and as forensic as is necessary to determine exactly what happened last night.”
Brixton Academy in south London is one of the city’s most famous performance venues. Built as a cinema in the 1920s, it seats almost 5,000 people.
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