A group of diners in north Brazil caused a stampede when they fled from a restaurant after mistaking several runners as robbers.
Customers at the Cervejaria Alphaiate bar and restaurant were seated at tables spread out across the sidewalk Saturday evening, enjoying their meals, when members of a local CrossFit gym ran directly towards them, the New York Post reported. Panicked, the patrons stood up from their seats and began running in the opposite direction to the group headed their way.
CCTV footage uploaded to social media shows one of the diners grab her purse and start running away. Shortly after, the rest of the diners follow, some of whom left their belongings behind. At one point in the video, a man is seen stumbling out of his chair and falling onto the pavement while the group flees. A restaurant waiter also looks confused and takes off after the diners. In the final seconds of the video several men who appear to be wearing hats and exercise clothing, jog past the scene.
Customers initially believed the group approaching them were thieves attempting to rob them.
"Then they said it was CrossFit," said doctor Amyr Kelner who was reportedly at the restaurant at the time, according to local media.
"It was very fast. People were coming slowly, then, when they got close to our table, they started running. I told my friend to call and hold her bag. She got up and, at that moment, someone shouted that it was a robbery. That's when I got up, shouted that it was also a robber and ran away," he told local media source G1, according to the Post.
"After a few minutes, we saw that nothing was happening. Everyone started laughing and went back to the tables as if nothing had happened," he continued. "When I got up, I put my cell phone and wallet in my pocket. There were people who thought I was pulling out a gun. It's something to live in a city as insecure as ours. Thank God, I've never been robbed, nor have I experienced anything like that, but you're in an extremely dangerous city and you see three people running towards you."
In a statement provided to local media, the restaurant said the confusion was "nothing more than a misunderstanding."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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