Jostled security guards, overturned security barriers, mayhem in the neighborhood: Internet users have deplored on social networks several events that occurred during the Metro Metro festival, last weekend, in Montreal.
In some videos that have gone viral on Instagram and Tiktok, festival-goers can also be seen entering the site without having paid or even fighting. Joined by The duty, the organizer of the event, Olivier Primeau, condemns these actions and specifies that an internal investigation is underway to shed light on the events. “These are actions that are not excusable. These events are regrettable, but we are on it and we are here to improve. »
Olivier Primeau believes that the fact that there have been very few festivals of this scale in the past two years due to the pandemic may have played a role in the irritation of certain festival-goers. “But that doesn’t justify [ces agissements] “, he says, however.
According to the public relations officer for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Véronique Comtois, five arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the festival, including one for an assault on a security guard and another for an assault with a weapon on a police officer, which is currently under investigation.
Post-match reflection: Would that be too much to ask of festival organizers #MetroMetro to add security around the event? Not feeling safe to return home, eg people in a state of serious intoxication. Seems to me that’s the least of it?! ????
— Daphnee Malboeuf (@DaphneeMalboeuf) May 23, 2022
“I felt that people wanted to celebrate”
University student Samie McNicoll attended the festival on its opening day last Friday. She says she never felt in danger, but nevertheless notes that the crowd was special, according to her. “We are coming out of the pandemic, I felt that people were eager to celebrate. »
During rapper Lil Pump’s show on Friday night, she reports that Olivier Primeau had to interrupt the concert by going on stage to dissuade the crowd from indulging in mosh pit, which can become violent. A mosh pit occurs when members of a crowd bump into each other in a form of brutal dancing, often at the foot of the stage.
“In several festivals, it is done. When we see that things are stirring too much at the front, we calm the enthusiasm,” explains Olivier Primeau, who adds that the organizing committee has warned the artists that any encouragement mosh pit would result in a cancellation of their concert.
Last November, it was, among other things, such crowd movements that led to the tragedy at the Astroworld festival in Houston. During a concert by rapper Travis Scott, ten people died, asphyxiated and trampled in the crowd, while hundreds of others were injured.
Despite this warning, student Samie McNicoll decided to leave a song before the end of the last show of the evening. “It was made heavy; it had become the norm to push people around you. At least it was easy to get out,” she says.
Promoter Olivier Primeau is planning a third edition of the festival next year, still in the Olympic Stadium sector, but not necessarily on the esplanade, believing that there could be more space near the Saputo stadium. He declares himself confident for the future of the event, presented to sold-out crowds last weekend.
“This is the second year that we have worked with the site, and already there is a big improvement compared to the first year”, he maintains, in addition to planning an increase in the workforce next year to limit damage in the neighborhood.
“It’s going to be super important to have more presence outside the site,” he believes.
At the time of writing these lines, the office of the mayor of the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Pierre Lessard-Blais, had not responded to our interview requests.