The opening of a shopping centre in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Johar area on Friday descended into chaos when a crowd surged in response to announcements of items available at nominal costs, leading to disorder and vandalism.

Individuals armed with sticks stormed the venue after the management decided to close the doors due to the overwhelming crowd. The situation escalated quickly, resulting in significant disruption during the inaugural event.

The shopping centre had announced special sales for the opening, but as the crowd grew uncontrollable, the management’s decision to shut down the mart triggered anger among the public. Police were notably absent during the chaos, but the mart administration later called for reinforcements.

According to SSP East Farukh Raza, some “troublemakers” emerged after the closure of the mart and attempted to throw stones. The police stated that they were not informed in advance by the mall management and that they managed to control the situation afterwards.

The unrest caused severe traffic jams in the Johar and Rabia City areas, with long queues of vehicles forming as a result of the mayhem.

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Mart’s marketing head Anas Malik lamented the way people treated the store, saying that the motive of the centre was that the prices were available all year round. “Until people don’t understand, how things will improve,” Malik said.

One of the salespeople stated that they had given a lot of time to the story and he was “displeased” with the people’s response.

“Dream Bazaar will reopen tomorrow!” the shopping centre said in a Facebook post.