A stampede and clashes at the windows of selling tickets for Hani Shaker’s concert in Damascus (Twitter)
The windows witnessed the sale of tickets for the Egyptian artist’s concert Hani ShakerWhich will be held in the Syrian capital Damascus In mid-September, a stampede, clashes, and fainting occurred due to crowding and disorganization by the administration of the Damascus Opera House (Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts).
Local pages and accounts circulated pictures and videos of the stampede at the windows and the fistfight, in addition to pictures of a man lying on the ground and others trying to wake him up after he fainted.
The scenes came after it was announced Damascus Opera House About the start of selling tickets for the concert Thursday morning at 10, as people who appeared in the recordings said that some of them arrived at the place at five and some of them arrived at seven, and they expressed their dissatisfaction with the poor organization, as the names of the attendees were organized, but one of the employees tore them up.
The party in charge of the ceremony set the prices of tickets as follows, first class at 5,000 Syrian pounds (about one US dollar), second class at 3000, and third class at 2,000, but some people said in the videos that they bought them for much more.
As a result of the crowding, the house announced a second concert for the Egyptian singer, next Friday, September 16th.
Syrians likened what happened in front of ticket windows to “the humiliation of the regime by making citizens wait in queues for bread and gas, in a general policy for its failure to organize.” In this context, Maher Sharaf El-Din said on his Twitter account: The queues of Hani Shaker, Madafsha and Labit in the queues to book tickets for Hani Shaker’s concert became more exciting than the concert itself.”
We were in queues for petrol and bread… We were in queues for Hani Shaker!!
Al-Madafsha, Al-Lubait and Al-Shanhaqa in queues to book tickets for a party #Hani Shaker…more exciting than the party itself.— Maher Sharafeddin (@mahersharafeddi) September 8, 2022
As for journalist Qutaiba Yassin, he commented on a recording of a woman crying in front of a ticket window: “This woman does not cry because two-thirds of Syria has been destroyed, not because half of its people have been displaced, not because Assad killed about a million Syrians, and not because the citizen can no longer buy food, Rather, she cries because the tickets for Hani Shaker’s party ran out and were sold through intermediaries, after the regime announced that the price of the ticket at the price of a piece of biscuit was 2000 pounds, so they crowded to buy it.”
This lady does not cry because two-thirds of Syria is destroyed
And not because half of its people are displaced
And not because Assad killed about a million Syrians
And not because the citizen can no longer buy food
Rather, she cries because Hani Shaker’s party tickets were sold out and were sold through intermediaries, after the regime announced that the price of the ticket at the price of a piece of biscuit was 2000 pounds.
They flock to buy it pic.twitter.com/HgwwJYqkPJ– Qutaiba Yassin (@k7ybnd99) September 8, 2022