Trigger warning: videos depicting harassment and abuse
The Karachi Eat Festival took place on Sunday and reports have emerged of improper facilities as well as instances of harassment and abuse from men. Users have taken to social media to share clips of how the event was poorly managed, with many families as well as women leaving quickly to avoid untoward incidents.
On Monday Karachi Eat became the number one trending topic on Twitter, with many women and families coming forward to share their experience posting videos showing stampedes causeed by poor management, as well as women and families being harassed by stags.
Videos also emerged showing men gate crashing the event by climbing over walls.
This user shared her experience of being unable to enjoy the festival with her family, because of how difficult men had made it for them.
Other videos uploaded on Twitter are showing how little effort was made to maintain security and management at the festival
Singer Kaifi Khalil was present to perform at the festival, and one video shows him being hit by an object.
The singer addressed the matter in his Instagram stories, by sharing that he decided to stop the performance to stop women and families from being harassed by stags.
Here is his full statement:
“Hello everyone. I would like to clarify the fake news that is circulating around about me getting injured during my performance at the Karachi Eats Event yesterday which is not true. i appreciate everyone being concerned about my well being and inquiring about it, but I am totally fine! I will say that I am extremely disappointed and upset because of what happened yesterday. Ladies that came out to enjoy the evening with their family and friends were harassed and treated inappropriately by a group of individuals that lacked decency and common sense. The event hot cancelled mid performance because I couldn’t continue with what was going on and because it became a safety concern for people in the audience as well. I request organizers to please take into consideration the safety of everyone attending when choosing the venue for such events, especially the ladies, so such accidents don’t happen. These events get organized so that people can come out to enjoy but there are some people who ruin the entire experience for everyone. This is the second time that this has happened at an event that I’m performing at and it’s disguisting and unacceptable. I’m not sure why this keeps occurring but it needs to stop. How can I perform when this happens? I request that everyone be mindful of each other and treat everyone with respect. THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT FEEL ENTITLED AND THINK IT’S ACCEPTABLE TO ACT INAPPROPRIATELY AND HARASS SOMEONE.”
The singer also shared a verse from the Quran to cement his stance to treat women with respect.
Since the event, there has been a call on social media to prevent stag men from attending festivals in order to ensure families and women can have a pleasant experience.
