YOUTUBE A group of German holidaymakers sparked a terror alert after organising a flash mob

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The youngsters armed themselves with selfie sticks and tripods and pretended that they were chasing after a celebrity as they ran through the Costa Brava resort of Platja d’Aro after organising the get-together on social media. But locals and other tourists mistook the ill-advised game for a terrorist attack as they heard shouting in a foreign language and confused the selfie sticks for guns.

Hundreds of people ran for safety, knocking over tables and chairs in their rush to get away as they abandoned restaurant meals and brought traffic to a stop in the centre of the resort, originally a small fishing village but now a major coastal resort popular mainly with Catalans and northern Europeans. Some shops even closed and offered refuge to panicked locals during the initial minutes of the scare and several people are said to have been treated for panic attacks. Police and emergency services coordinators took to Twitter to try to calm nerves and rule out fears of a terror attack after it became apparent the blame lay at the door of a group of Germans thought to be staying on a nearby campsite.

INSTAGRAM Tourists ran for safety, knocking over tables and chairs and abandoning meals

The incident happened around 10pm in the central S’Agaro Avenue near the tourist office. Ignasi Sibils, who was dining with his wife and his eight-month-old nephew on a restaurant terrace in the area, told Spanish daily El Pais how they had been caught up in an avalanche of around 400 people who had literally knocked their table flying as they fled screaming: “Run and hide.” Catalunya Emergencies, an emergency response coordination centre which received more than 100 calls alerting them to the drama from those caught up in it, tweeted: “Important message. In Platja d’Aro there have been incidents in the public highway because of a flash mob or something similar which has provoked a stampede. No shots have been fired.” And regional police force Mossos d’Esquadra followed with a social media alert which confirmed: “The Platja d’Aro incident is a false alarm. Don’t spread false rumours which are not contrasted with official sources.”

INSTAGRAM Restaurant-goers abandoned their meals and ran for safety

Police confirmed they were questioning two people suspected of organising the flash mob as their actions were criticised by local politicians and officials. Spain is currently on high anti-terror alert, level four out of a threat level scale of one to five, and law enforcement agencies have prepared for a repeat of the recent atrocities of Nice and Munich. Local councillor Dolors Guirado said the incident had sparked “an horrendous panic” and the town hall said that it was studying whether to take action against those who had sparked the chaotic scenes. National Police took to Twitter to broadcast a “warning to idiots”, stating: “Simulating an attack and faking a terror alert can be a crime” and warning it carried a three-month prison sentence.

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Those responsible for the incidents in Platja d’Aro are being questioned with a view to clarifying the situation

Local reports said as many as 200 people had taken part in the flash mob, the name given to a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time before dispersing. The term was coined in 2003 after more than 130 people converted on the ninth floor of Macy’s department store in Manhattan after being told to say when approached by a sales assistant that they were living together in a warehouse on the outskirts of New York and were shopping for a “love rug”. Flash mobs are normally organised via social media or viral emails for the purpose of entertainment, satire and artistic expression. A local town hall source said: “When someone runs, the rest tend to run as well and it’s something that’s very difficult to stop.” A spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra in Girona confirmed overnight: “Those responsible for the incidents in Platja d’Aro are being questioned with a view to clarifying the situation.”

YOUTUBE Tourists run for their lives when they mistook a flashmob for a terrorist attack