Chris Martin Speaks At Global Citizen Festival After False Gunfire Threat

The 2018 Global Citizen Festival was nearly marred due to an unanticipated moment of terror.

Thousands of festival-goers present for Saturday night's (September 29) open music concert feared gunfire at the sounds of a collapsing police barrier.

According to Fox News, the accident occurred at New York's Great Lawn just moments before 8 p.m., during which time a blockade designed to restrict the audience suddenly fell over, creating a noise that sent the crowd scattering in panic.

The mishap immediately prompted New York City police to take the stage to reassure onlookers no shots were fired nor was there anything to fear.

Still, given past shootings which have taken place at concert events — such as the 2017 Las Vegas shootings — fans were in fear for their lives. "Just sprinted out of global citizen festival thinking it was for my life...thank god there were no shots fired, just a fence that fell," one attendee tweeted of the scare.

The false threat resulted in an unspecified amount of spectators getting injured in the stampede.

Coldplay singer Chris Martin later joined NYPD’s assistant chief Kathleen O’Reilly onstage in hopes of helping to calm the crowd.

"What happened is a barrier, I think, fell down. Of course, it caused people to be a little frightened," Martin explained, "but nobody is trying to hurt anybody. You're all safe, okay? There were no shots fired."

Once the momentary panic was over, the event proceeded with performances from the likes of Janet Jackson (see here), Cardi B (see here) and others.

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