Fyre flashback: big Belgian music festival VestiVille scrapped at last minute over security fears and fraud suspicion
- Thousands of revellers turn up at campsite venue in Belgium’s Flemish region to see Cardi B and other hip hop stars only to be turned away by police with dogs
A music festival in Belgium featuring major stars like rapper Cardi B came to a chaotic end before it even started.
Security concerns were ostensibly the reason behind the cancellation of the VestiVille festival in Belgium on Friday, though local officials have launched a fraud investigation.
Videos posted on Twitter show an elaborate stage apparently ready for the three-day music fest on a campsite in Lommel, in Belgium’s Flemish region. But thousands of festivalgoers from around Europe and elsewhere got a shock as police, some with dogs, moved in to try to keep them out of the grounds.
Belgium’s RTBF network said on Saturday that the Limbourg prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation on suspicion of fraud over payments and quoted spokesman Jeroen Swijssen as saying three of the festival organisers were questioned Friday night. The three were not identified. An investigating judge was said to be questioning them further over the weekend on an array of suspicions including fraud, laundering and breach of trust.
VestiVille wrote on Facebook and Twitter on Friday that Lommel Mayor Bob Nijs stopped the festival on security grounds. The posts said that after consulting security services and security for star rapper A$AP Rocky, “it was decided that the safety of the artist and the public could not be guaranteed”.