French PS4 sale leads to rowdy crowds being pepper sprayed by police

[midian182]

WTF?! What would you endure to get a PlayStation 4 for just $107? Being almost crushed? Pepper sprayed by police? That’s what happened to those who turned up at a store outside of Paris, which was offering the console at around a third of its usual price.

As part of its opening celebrations, the Lidl store in Orgeval, around 28 miles northeast of Paris, put the 500GB variants of the PS4 on sale for 95 Euros (around $107)—several hundred dollars less than its usual price.

RT reports that a member of staff revealed the deal early on social media, where it went viral. The temptation of grabbing a PS4 for a bargain price brought huge crowds, who certainly weren't following social distancing rules—France's Covid-19 guidelines state that no more than 10 people may gather in any one place at present.

Ça gaze ! Et ça pique le nez / les yeux. Donc tout ça pour un #PS4 ! @lidlfrance Orgeval pic.twitter.com/lYH88ygrK8

— Olivier Dauvers (@Dauvers70) June 17, 2020

Police were brought in, and as you can see in the video from Commerce writer Olivier Dauvers, it appears they used pepper spray on the crowds. Dauvers said the liquid "stings the eyes and nose.” In another Twitter video (below) from user @rayanhmbrk1, some of the crowd, including police officers, are seen moving away while holding their faces.

#lidl les gendarmes qui s’auto GAZ ????? pic.twitter.com/O3S89LKrpd

— Rayan?? (@rayanhmbrk1) June 17, 2020

Lidl France said the discount was part of an ongoing destocking operation, and similar offers at other stores hadn’t led to near riots/police intervention/pepper spraying. The company tweeted: "Today, we believe that the security conditions are not met to keep the supermarket open. The sale of the PS4 is also permanently cancelled."

With the PlayStation 5 arriving in a few months, sales of current-gen consoles have fallen in recent times, leading to some retailers selling them off at huge discounts. Lidl is famed for offering certain goods at low prices, but don’t expect to see any more cheap PS4s from the company.

Main image credit: Olivier Dauvers

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/85686-french-ps4-sale-leads-rowdy-crowds-pepper-sprayed.html

 

[Rjmachine]

Thats cheap

 

[Lounds]

Why would Lidl do this, how stupid.

 

[Achaios]

France has got a huge public order problem due to the unrestricted immigration.

A few days ago, there were widespread riots in the French city of Dijon between Chechens and Algerians. Look it up on Twitter. They had to call in the Gendarmes and the Special Forces, and I don't know if the race riots there are still pacified.

France is the next country in turn to be demolished by riots IMO.

 

[Uncle Al]

You will continue to see this issue around the world. People are tired of the police getting away with appalling behavior. Sadly, the problems are with a very small handful of bad cops but when governments don't get rid of them they simply empower them. Strangely, this escalated when police unions were allowed to get into more than just salary & benefit negotiations. A lot would get straightened out if they eliminated laws that gave police (and anyone for that matter) immunity from prosecution, made officers pay for their own lawyers, and refused any special privileges like hiding their personnel records; after all, they are paid by the citizens so why shouldn't the citizens see what they are paying for?

 

[tacobravo]

They rioted for on sale nutella so this seems normal

 

[Eldritch]

France has got a huge public order problem due to the unrestricted immigration.

When you flaunt your own laws in order to look 'good', then there will always be the consequences and the price to pay.
France's image has been shattered in recent years and we have all seen the numerous slums that have sprung up there. Way to go, guys.