The event caused chaos in the Belgian capital. The two French influencers IbraTV and HMI invited their subscribers to go to Brussels (Belgium) on Monday evening, promising them a distribution of gifts before the Christmas holidays.
An initiative initiated by Hachemi, a social media star with 7.3 million subscribers on Snapchat, who promised to distribute “200,000 euros in gifts” of all kinds, such as mobile phones, as part of its bus tour of major cities, entitled “HMI Tour”. An event organized in the company of other internet celebrities such as MMA fan YouTuber IbraTV.
The event attracted more than 1,000 young people who quickly went to the foot of the Atomium, a famous Brussels monument, at the end of the day in the hope of winning nice gifts. But around 6:30 p.m., while the two men with several million subscribers had not yet arrived on site in their bus, the crowd began to get agitated, and to provoke the police.
“Waiting for the arrival of the influencers, some participants set off fireworks, both horizontally and vertically,” Ilse Van de Keere, spokesperson for the Brussels-Police zone, told VRT. Capitals/Ixelles. “Fireworks were also set off in the direction of the police,” she added.
Their bus stoned by their “fans”
When the bus arrived around 7 p.m., the crowd quickly surrounded the bus. “The atmosphere became tense, with demands for gifts to be distributed and threats of vandalism,” Van de Keere said. The windows of the HMI bus were even broken by young people who threw stones at the vehicle, as the influencer lamented on his Snapchat account.
“Our services tried to let the bus leave safely, but the crowd followed the vehicle towards Houba de Strooper Avenue. To control the situation and free the road, the water cannon had to be deployed.” According to the police, calm returned around 8 p.m. There were no injuries and no damage was reported.
The influencers therefore left before even being able to distribute the gifts to their furious fans. Several images posted on Snapchat show how they were finally able to invite several young subscribers to another location in Brussels, later in the evening, to distribute their gifts to them.
Images published on social networks also show the two French influencers distributing gifts to two Belgian police officers. “It is absolutely forbidden for agents to accept gifts,” commented the federal police, quoted by 7sur7, which assures that it is investigating this matter.
