Radiohead Listening Event In Istanbul Attacked, Band Responds

Radiohead Listening Event In Istanbul Attacked, Band Responds

Radiohead held a worldwide streaming event to celebrate A Moon Shaped Pool’s physical release today. Record stores all over the world participated, but an unfortunate incident unfolded at one shop in Instanbul. According to Turkish news, patrons in record store Velvet Indieground were attacked by a group of men who were angry that they were drinking alcohol and playing music during Ramadan. Things reportedly turned violent, and a Periscope video has surfaced in which you can hear a commotion outside the store. You cannot see much of the altercation but there are some chilling sounds and reactions. A man claiming to be a host of the event and owner of the Periscope account where the video was posted responded in a thread on Reddit, saying:

I was one of the hosts. I am the person that’s speaking in that video. I am the owner of that periscope account. They were determined to kill us. We were beaten by more than 20 men with pipes in their hands, beer bottles were broken on our heads. I don’t even know how we made it out. I will share the details later guys, just hoping that no one will die.

See footage of the incident via that Periscope below:

Thankfully, it has been reported that no one was seriously injured, though one person was reportedly bleeding profusely after being struck in the head with a bottle. Velvet Indieground has asked anyone in need of aid after the incident to reach out via Facebook.

UPDATE: Radiohead shared this statement Friday evening…

Our hearts go out to those attacked tonight at Velvet IndieGround in Istanbul. We hope that someday we will be able to look back on such acts of violent intolerance as things of the ancient past. For now, we can only offer our fans in Istanbul our love and support.

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