No fatalities or serious criminal activity was reported during or after the #EMBParty5 at the Forum building near Wonderpark at the weekend.
“Contrary to social media speculation, there were no serious incidents of gross criminal activity or physical harm reported to the organisers, onsite medical team or the local police station.
“We further wish to confirm that there were no fatalities and nobody lost their life as maliciously reported,” read a statement issued by the organisers of the party.
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The organisers said the upheaval at the party was caused by “undesirable persons” who were not in possession of tickets and saw the event as an opportunity for “criminal activity by instigating chaos”.
“The security measures taken for the event did not anticipate such a large group of people outside attempting to forcefully enter the venue and as a result, the security personnel were overwhelmed and there were disruptions at the entrance and surrounding areas at the venue,” the statement continued.
The EMBEDDED group further acknowledged its shortcomings for “not adequately preparing for an eventuality of this nature”.
“We commit ourselves to significantly investing increased resources into safety and security measures inside and outside the venue.”
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They further apologised to party-goers and those affected by the “negative elements” that affected the party.
“We also wish to apologise to all artists, service providers and partners affected.
“We appreciate the support received in this period and wish to reassure everybody that we will be back as an improved collective with improved offerings,” the statement read.
The EMBEDDED statement follows after social media users went into a tizzy over alleged multiple fatalities and rapes at the venue.
Twitter user Coach Karabo (@Kdot_26) tweeted: “10 men came in a van, surrounded the whole Forum [building] blocking people from leaving. Robbed over 40-50 people, three died (two gunshots were reported) and nine women were raped. Apparently cops even fled the incident given all those men were heavily armed.”
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The local police also quashed the widely circulated social media reports.
“No one was killed”” spokesperson Captain Riana van Aarde said.
She added that the the rape dockets opened for investigation at the weekend were unrelated to the event.
”They’re not related to the event.”
Van Aarde said although it was a “very dangerous situation”, nothing “serious” was reported to the police.
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