- An Australian TikToker with 5.2 million followers hosted a meet and greet event on August 28.
- Fans who attended the event said crowds were throwing deodorant cans at each other and fighting.
An Australian influencer's meet-and-greet was shut down by police after 20 minutes due to fans collapsing and pushing each other in large crowds that gathered for the event.
Anna Paul, an OnlyFans and TikTok creator with over 5 million followers, hosted the event in Perth, Australia, on August 28 in collaboration with the clothing brand Stax with which she's launching a merchandise line.
That morning, a number of TikTok users began posting videos that showed crowds gathering outside a Stax store where the event was set to take place. Over the course of the day, videos started to show chaos unfolding, and fans shared accounts of attendees yelling, fighting, and people throwing deodorant cans at each other.
Discussion about the event circulated on TikTok in the following days, with attendees receiving up to hundreds of thousands of views on videos discussing the incident. One TikToker said they went to hospital after fainting at the event, and filmed themselves inside what appeared to be an ambulance.
@christian_shay Those poor people who stayed overnight!
♬ original sound - Christian Shay
@notgracegiddings didn’t even get to see her #fyp #perth #annapaul #mng @Anna Paul ♬ original sound - not me
In a statement provided to Insider, the Western Australia police force said they were expecting between 200 and 300 fans to attend the event, but a "significantly larger crowd than expected" turned up. Police requested assistance from ambulance services after several people "collapsed and required medical assistance," according to the statement.
"Due to the size of the crowd and lack of appropriate security and other event planning in place to cope with the larger than expected crowd, and in consultation with the store management, the event was closed down and police commenced dispersing the crowd from the area," the statement continued.
Paul posted a video statement on TikTok on August 29 saying she arranged safety precautions prior to the event, due to her previous events in Sydney and Melbourne attracting more fans than she initially thought, but that around 20 minutes into the meet-and-greet, the police told her they were going to close it down for "safety reasons."
@anna..paull The Perth Meet and Greet We love you
♬ original sound - Anna Paul
Lucy Marshall, a 23-year-old fan who attended the event, told Insider she arrived at the Perth store six hours before it began, so she could secure a space in the queue to meet Paul. Marshall said she was number 52 in line, telling Insider that fans wrote the number of their space in the queue on their hands to avoid people pushing in line.
Marshall said she waited in line for hours but was turned away by authorities before she could meet the influencer. "Once the cops came out and announced it was over I was crying and pretty shocked at how it ended," she said.
The 23-year-old told Insider she was pleased the police shut down the event before things could get more violent, and added, "I couldn't move in the crowd, people were spitting gum at one another, fights nearly started from people pushing in and I witnessed one person faint."
@l_e_d_m ♬ original sound - ledm
In her TikTok video, Paul said that "nobody got seriously injured" and that attendees' safety "is our number one priority."
She added, "We were all so disappointed and we feel like we let you down," and said she had chosen to host the free event so fans would not have to pay to see her, but that she has learned it "should have been ticketed" and plans to organize future events with provisions for a "way bigger crowd."
Paul rose to fame on TikTok for posting lifestyle content and lip-sync videos. Most of her videos receive between two and five million views on the platform.
The 23-year-old influencer is also one of Australia's top OnlyFans creators, and in August, she posted a TikTok describing "a day in the life" of a sex worker, which quickly became her most viral video and has currently been viewed 18.8 million times.
Paul and Stax did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.