A website advertising a hoax Halloween parade in Dublin tricked thousands of people into turning up in the city centre last night.
Gardaí had to ask people to move on after they lined O'Connell Street in anticipation of the event. Luas services were disrupted for a time.
People gathered on O’Connell Street for a hoax Halloween parade 31/10/2024.The website site, which is thought to be part of an ad-revenue scam, had promised a parade running from Parnell Square to Temple Bar and gained traction on Google and TikTok.
Please be advised that contrary to information being circulated online, no Halloween parade is scheduled to take place in Dublin City Centre this evening or tonight.
All those gathered on O’Connell Street in expectation of such a parade are asked to disperse safely.
Thank you. pic.twitter.com/KmVPFKEZbP— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) October 31, 2024
Local Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon says in public interest in Thursday night's fake parade shows there's an appetite for a similar event in the city centre.
"Apparently the atmosphere was really brilliant. Apparently there was just people having fun, but there was no parade.
"Then the guards had to put out a tweet, basically telling people to disperse.
"There are two ways of looking at that. Of course, there are the dangers of misinformation, and we need to obviously keep that in mind.
"But when actually you get down to the more basics, people in Dublin clearly want the Halloween parade".
