A Pakistan-based company has apologised to residents of Dublin, Ireland, after a “human error” on their events website led thousands to gather on the city’s main street for a non-existent Halloween parade.
Video footage revealed large crowds gathered along O’Connell Street in Dublin, anticipating a display of giant Halloween puppets supposedly created by the renowned Irish theatre group, Mácnas from Galway.
Commenting on the incident, Film-maker Bertie Brosnan said to the Guardian, “I was there filming for 40 minutes. From Parnell Square West – both sides of the street – people were packed five to 10 deep, lined up all the way down around the corner as far as the spire. Thousands were there. The Luas [tramline] was completely blocked on both lines.”
The event, listed on My Spirit Halloween website, drew substantial crowds who were eventually dispersed by gardaí (the national police and security service of Ireland) informing them that no parade was scheduled. Initially, people suspected deliberate deception or a Halloween prank.
However, the website operators have clarified that the incident resulted from a human error.
The incorrect listing advertised a Mácnas parade scheduled for Thursday between 7 pm and 9 pm local time, which was actually copied from the previous year’s event and mistakenly inserted into the current calendar.
The website, which compiles global Halloween-related content, ranked highly in Google searches before October 31, with the parade announcement being widely circulated on social media.
Nazir Ali, the Pakistan-based website operator, expressed regret, with the Irish Times quoting him as saying, “We are highly embarrassed and highly depressed, and very sorry.” He further added, “It was our mistake and we should have doubled checked it to make sure it was happening. But newspapers are reporting that we posted it intentionally and this is very, very wrong.”
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