Customers at a bar in Brazil were enjoying their meal when they were frightened and forced to flee after confusing runners with robbers.
The incident, which was caught on CCTV, took place at the Cervejaria Alphaiate bar and restaurant on Saturday night, in the north of the country.
In the footage, the diners can be seen quickly standing up from their seats after noticing a group of people heading towards them and running in the other direction, flipping tables and chairs.
As people bolted away, a restaurant waiter can also be seen looking confused and eventually taking off after the diners. It was later reported that the chaos was caused by a misunderstanding.
The CCTV footage was shared on Twitter and quickly became viral, with the original video being watched nearly eight million times.
In the now-viral video, a woman can first be seen running along the footpath past the restaurant’s outdoor seating. She was followed by a man she was sharing the table with. This prompted another woman to stand up from her table and urge those sitting with her to get up and leave too.
Within seconds, sensing that something was wrong, the rest of the diners followed suit and ran away in the same direction. One of them even stumbled out of his chair and fell on the pavement as others ran by.
It was later revealed that the group approaching the restaurant and scaring the customers was said to be a CrossFit exercise group, not thieves attempting to rob customers and the bar.
“It was very fast. People were coming slowly, then, when they got close to our table, they started running,” one of the diners, a woman, who was reportedly at the restaurant at the time, said.
“I told my friend to call and hold her bag. She got up and, at that moment, someone shouted that it was a robbery. That’s when I got up, shouted that it was also a robber and ran away,” she added.
In a statement provided to local media, the restaurant said the confusion was “nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
The restaurant saw the funny side to the incident and a day later, Cervejaria Alphaiate posted a video on Instagram that showed their staff mimicking the runners at the same location, poking fun at the incident.
Source: https://twitter.com/BernardoBcabral/status/1572983880591745024