On Saturday, a report of two “armed” men in Plaza de Callao led to the police evacuating the area. Confusion spread on the street and on social media, where some users reported the presence of “armed savages” with an “Arab appearance.” Some even dared to report the arrest of these alleged people, without evidence, and went so far as to blame “the PP, PSOE and the sons of bitches who vote for them.”
The police confirmed the “false alarm” shortly afterwards. ElDiario reports that a person had mistaken a tripod for a gun and had alerted the officers. No one knows where Patricia Rodríguez, a member of Vox, got the very specific information that they were “two parallel unloaded shotguns”.
The tripod belongs to the equipment of the singer Ismael Serrano, who, without wanting to or drinking it, has ended up at the centre of a racist hoax. In reality, Serrano and his team had just participated in the recording of the presentation of a children’s book, written by the musician’s partner, and he and his team were leaving their tripods in the car.
Contacted by ElDiario, Ismael Serrano expressed his surprise at the impact of the hoax on social networks and expressed his concern that “this type of incident increases paranoia regarding security, seeing threats where there are none.”
ElDiario has confirmed that the complaint was filed by a 19-year-old man, who at no point mentioned the appearance of the two men he was referring to.
