Turkish Radiohead fans attacked at listening party in Istanbul

[Crunch Punch]

A group of Radiohead fans has been attacked by a mob of men carrying sticks and bottles as they held a listening party of the band's music in Istanbul.

The incident, which was largely captured on video, occurred on Friday night at the Velvet Indieground record store – a popular destination for Turkish and foreign music fans in the Istanbul district of Cihangir. There was at least one injury, with a picture of a person with a bloodied shirt, purportedly from the attack, posted on Twitter.

The video shows a visibly angry man storming into the record store as employees and customers listen to Radiohead's new album, A Moon Shaped Pool. Most of the people in the store hastily leave. A waiting mob then reportedly attacked the group and the door of the record store was smashed, although there were no reported serious injuries from the assault.

Velvet Indieground staff said the altercation was caused by a group of about 20 men who were unhappy that the store was playing music and handing out alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims are expected to fast during the day. Although alcohol is generally considered forbidden by Islam, only a few countries ban it and drinking is largely tolerated in much of the Middle East.

Note: Video contains distressing scenes

Guardian story
Reddit link where the store owner and participants of the event have commented

Disturbing to say the least.

 

[gimmepie]

People like that are not helping fight the stereotype. There's not much else to say about them. I'm worried about the inevitable non-Islamic backlash this will cause throughout the world though.

 

[RegalSin]

So the idiots was handing out alcohol during a time when it was not allowed. Okay the violence seems reasonable. The problem is that most people have seen or understand "Singham". You must see "Singham" even if you haven't you will not understand why it is deemable for village people to gather and attack people. Seriously go watch "Signham". It also have a sequel.

 

[zakisrage]

This is disturbing, but then again, Islamism is taking hold in much of the Muslim world, even in liberal countries like Turkey.

I've been criticised by other Muslims for listening to music and eating during Ramadan. One thing about being Muslim is that you're used to morons running around saying we shouldn't be listening to music at all. The Islamists can't accept the fact that not all Muslims feel as strongly about Islam as they do.