Men with pipes attack a Radiohead listening party in Istanbul

About 20 men armed with pipes attacked the A Moon Shaped Pool listening event at Velvet IndieGround Records in Istanbul on the evening of Friday 17 June, the day the album reached shops on CD and vinyl. The shop, in the Firuzaga area of Beyoglu, was the only one in Turkey among the hundreds around the world playing Radiohead's all-day stream. At about 9pm the men forced their way in, beat people, broke beer bottles over their heads and damaged the shop. They were reportedly angry that people were drinking alcohol and listening to music during Ramadan.

A camera one of the hosts had set up was streaming the party live on Periscope, and it caught the men coming in, people being dragged out and the shop shut within minutes. The voice on the footage is Seogu Lee, the South Korean who ran the shop. They were determined to kill us. We were beaten by more than 20 men with pipes in their hands, beer bottles were broken on our heads.⁴ No one was seriously hurt, though one man was photographed bleeding.

Police took three people into custody. Two men questioned over the attack have since been released, and one of them says he went to the shop after his wife was sworn at. The mayor of Beyoglu, Ahmet Misbah Demircan, condemned the attack and said those responsible would be brought to justice, while faulting the fans for filming. On Saturday evening hundreds rallied near the shop against the attack, and police broke up the protest with tear gas, water cannon and rubber pellets. The landlord has now told the shop to leave, and Lee has emptied it and moved out of the neighbourhood.

Radiohead sent a written statement on the night of the attack. Their hearts went out to those attacked at Velvet IndieGround, they said, and for now they could offer their fans in Istanbul only their love and support. We hope that someday we will be able to look back on such acts of violent intolerance as things of the ancient past.¹