Hundreds of people lined some of Dublin City’s main thoroughfares this Halloween night for a fake parade which had been advertised online.
Rumours of the hoax parade appear to have originated from a post on a Halloween-focused website stating that the parade would be taking place in the capital between 7pm and 9pm, starting at Parnell Street and ending at Christchurch Cathedral.
The post — which also falsely claimed the parade had been organised by Galway-based performance group Macnas — was likely generated Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Indeed, the has seen another post on a different Halloween-focused site containing similar text and content, albeit with Dublin and locations in the city swapped out for those of another European capital.
Pictures and videos shared on social media websites this evening show hundreds of people gathered along O’Connell Street in advance of the phony parade.
In a statement this evening, gardaí said that, “contrary to information being circulated online, no Halloween parade is scheduled to take place in Dublin City Centre this evening or tonight”.
Gardaí said that all of those gathered on O’Connell Street in expectation of such a parade should “disperse safely”.