You twit! Olly Murs’ tweet fuels gun panic in London
Armed police swoop ... but it’s a false alarm
CELEBRITIES were accused of sparking hysteria last night by spreading ‘fake news’ during a terror scare.
Terrified crowds fled London’s busiest shopping district after false reports of gunfire and a terrorist on the loose.
Police initially responded as if the incident at Oxford Circus Tube station was terror related, while shoppers looking for Black Friday bargains in Oxford Street were reduced to panic by rumours spread on social media.
Journalist Piers Morgan criticised Olly Murs and Russell Brand for ‘stirring up extra needless panic’ by posting on social media live from the scene. Singer Murs, who had been shopping in Selfridges, told his 8million followers: ‘F*** everyone get out of Selfridges now gun shots!! I’m inside. Really not sure what’s happened... but people screaming and running towards exits!’
Comedian Brand posted a video claiming to be in lockdown inside Barclays bank in Hanover Square with ‘about 20’ others. He told his 12.3million followers: ‘Some people saying they’ve heard gun shots, a young guy on Oxford Street.’
Morgan told Murs to ‘stop tweeting’ reports of panic. The X Factor runner-up replied: ‘Listen piers! I was shopping and then all of sudden the whole place went mad, I mean crazy people running & screaming towards exits.
‘People were saying there was shots fired. If you was there you’d have understood mate.’
Morgan responded: ‘No. You listen, Olly. When you have millions of followers be very careful what you tweet. There were no shots, in fact nothing happened at all. So you stirred extra needless panic by tweeting false information. Leave it to the police next time.’
Police said they had found no trace of any suspects or evidence that shots had been fired.
Armed officers swarmed the area around after reports of gunshots at 4.37pm. Shoppers cowered in stores while the Royal Variety Show, attended by Kate Middleton, in the nearby London Palladium was delayed.
Last night it was still unclear what started the panic, amid reports of a fight breaking out at the London Underground station. One witness, Alyssa Puddle, said one man had nearly been pushed under a train. ‘I’m not sure what started the fight, but the next second a woman was screaming,’ she said. ‘Because it was so busy people were just being sucked into the fight and shoved around. ‘I got forced up against a wall.’ It is thought the scare, which paralysed much of central London, would have cost retailers millions in lost Black Friday sales.