Cannes: alleged shot triggers mass panic - more than 40 injured

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Cannes in France: Panic on the Croisette

More than 40 people were injured in a mass panic on the famous beach promenade of Cannes on Tuesday night: a rumor of a shooting terrified pedestrians in the seaside resort in southern France. According to a spokesman for the local fire department, 44 people with minor injuries were treated in the hospital.

Mayor David Lisnard tried to calm people down. "There were no shots in Cannes," he said on Twitter around midnight. Shortly afterwards, he added that the panic reaction said a lot about the tension in society. Amateur footage intended to show the excited crowd quickly spread across the Internet.

"Shooting on the Croisette in Cannes", a user titled the following video. Cannes' promenade is also known as the "Croisette".

According to the authorities, suddenly someone shouted "shot" in the midst of the people. Panic then broke out. Around a hundred firefighters brought the situation on the promenade back under control. Local authorities used Twitter to warn people not to spread untruths. They too emphasized that there were no shots.

Since 2015, French cities have been the target of terrorist attacks on several occasions. In 2016, a truck drove into a crowd on Nice's seafront. 86 people were killed.

lmd / dpa