Eight people have been injured, with four in critical condition, after a suspected crush outside a south London venue hosting a concert by Nigerian Afrobeats singer Asake, on Thursday night.
Police said eight people were hospitalized after sustaining “injuries believed to have been caused by crushing.”
Two more were treated by fire service and paramedic teams at the scene in the south of the city.
Emergency teams were called to the O2 Academy in Brixton at 21:35 pm (2135 GMT) on Thursday following reports “that a large number of people were attempting to force entry to the venue”.
Police, ambulance crews and fire brigade officers arrived to find numerous people with injuries.
The incident occurred during the last of three sold-out performances at the venue by singer-songwriter Asake.
The gig was cancelled midway through the performance. Reports said an irate crowd was told that up to 3,000 people had tried to break through the doors, with some succeeding, and that police had ordered the show to stop.
“Detectives are investigating the circumstances which led to four people sustaining critical injuries in Brixton,” the Metropolitan police said in a statement, noting no arrests have been made.
Commander Ade Adelekan called the incident “extremely upsetting” and vowed an investigation “as thorough and as forensic as necessary to establish exactly what happened last night”.
He added that specialist officers will examine the scene and CCTV, but appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
