Pakistani website apologises for advertising Halloween parade that never happened

A Pakistan-based company has issued an apology for a “mistake” that led thousands of Dubliners to line up on the streets, eagerly awaiting a Halloween parade that never happened.

Scores of decked-out people packed O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre on Thursday, as the enthusiastic crowd arrived to watch the parade.

The crowd also left a huge gap in the middle of the road for the giant Halloween puppets from Macnas, one of Ireland’s best-known theatre groups, to pass through, despite the absence of police barricades or any police presence.

The event was first advertised on a website called myspirithalloween.com, promoting a parade to be held from 7pm to 9pm, and the interest it generated led the news to rank on Google.

But parade-goers were instead spooked by the no-show of the procession after police informed them that no such event was happening, leading many to suspect that thousands had been scammed.

Nazir Ali, the man behind the website, explained that the incident occurred due to “human error” when a team member copied last year’s event notice and pasted it into this year’s calendar.

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“It was our mistake and we should have double checked it to make sure it was happening. But newspapers are reporting that we posted it intentionally and this is very, very wrong,” Mr Ali told the Irish Times.

“We are highly embarrassed and highly depressed, and very sorry.”

The site, which he said was based in Pakistan, featured in the top Google results in the days leading up to 31 October and the posting on the parade was also shared widely on multiple social media platforms.

Irish filmmaker Bertie Brosnan described the scene at the street where he was filming for 40 minutes, saying: “From Parnell Square West – both sides of the street – people were packed five to 10 deep, lined up all the way down around the corner as far as the spire.

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“Thousands were there. The Luas [tramline] was completely blocked on both lines.”

As the people unsuspecting of the mistake continued to swell on the streets, the Gardaí (local police) was forced to put out a message for those waiting on O’Connell Street to “disperse safely”.

A spokesperson said: “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.”

Peter Farrelly who shot video from his window of the crowds gathering at O’Connell Street told The Independent: “It was funny. We are still smiling now. It took about an hour from the start time for people

“The Gardaí were trying to clear the street. It was also the festival of Divali last night so a lot of people were out on the street as well.”

The event will not be investigated as "no criminal offences were disclosed", a Gardaí spokesperson said.

"An Garda Síochána advises that members of the public always verify any information online regarding upcoming events from trusted and reputable sources.

"Public information on major events including traffic management, transport and public safety advice is often available on the Garda website, Dublin City Council website and from other relevant stakeholders," they added.