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A stampede broke out at Disneyland Paris after loud noises from a faulty escalator at the theme park's main railway station sparked mass panic.

Tourists were seen running and screaming in the dark, as video footage of the incident which began just before 9pm local time emerged.

Visitors were reportedly being told to stay in their hotels and not attempt to go to the village tonight, with many claiming they were 'on lockdown' inside restaurants.

But Disneyland Paris dismissed social media reports of 'explosions', clarifying it was a false alarm.

Some however suffered minor injuries due to 'crowd movement,' local police said.

Police and soldiers were seen flooding the area around the station, which is around 20 miles from the centre of the French capital.

A spokesman for the RER station at Marne la Vallee said a faulty escalator had sparked the panic.

"It seems that a malfunctioning escalator has caused the problems," he said.

"It began working erratically, and causing loud noises. It may be that some people have been hurt in this accident."

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A spokesman for Disneyland Paris said: "There has been no explosions, no shootings, no injuries. It (was) a false alarm.

"Please don’t read any rumours or stories that over exaggerate – the lockdown and police attendance were standard procedure following any sort of incident."

The Interior Ministry tweeted: "Mass stampede tonight at Disneyland Paris. False alarm, security forces confirm there is no threat."

Following the RER escalator problems, visitors to Disneyland were briefly confined in buildings, including the police station.

One, describing the 'frightening atmosphere', said there were tears and fear.

A witness told Sud Info: "The security guards locked the doors and we were evacuated by the back shop.

"It was really panic. Many people were crying. We really wondered what was going on. I was with my son."

"I was at a coffee terrace when I saw people running and screaming," said one vistor.

"We all started running in panic and I took refuge at the police station with dozens of other people.

"There were reports of disturbing noises at the station."

People who were in a Starbucks cafe were reportedly being led through a backstage route. Others said they were also evacuated via the back of shops.

Michael Killin said he had just got back to his room after hearing people screaming in the queue for McDonald's.

Nikki Martin earlier tweeted: "We were just there.

"We saw a load of people running, at first we thought it was people messing but then people were screaming, so we ran too.

"We ran into Chef Mickey but we’re scared of getting trapped so ran to our hotel. Scary!!"

Ashley Chapman told Mirror Online: "I was at Disneyland Paris and we were at the car park near Five Guys and someone screamed and we saw people running so we ran to the car and left but people were fleeing.

"People were not allowed to go into the village. It was a very scary thing to happen to us."

Disneyland Paris is among Europe's most-visited tourist destinations, with up to 10 million visitors a year.