Rumors of a so-called “real-life” Detroit “Purge” in Michigan as well as another one in the San Francisco Bay Area in California are circulating online.
The rumors are similar to the ones going around about Louisville, Kentucky and Jacksonville, Florida.
The rumors are especially blowing up about Detroit, because One Direction and 5SOS are scheduled to perform there tonight.
Posters are spreading online showing a masked person from the recent The Purge: The Anarchy movie, but with information about certain cities on it. The Detroit one says that it will take place on Friday, or today, from 12 p.m. through Saturday at 6 a.m.
Another poster claims that a purge will take place on August 25 and August 30, both from 12 a.m. through 6 a.m.
Rumors are also circulating about purges happening in Cleveland, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri.
Law enforcement officials in both places have stayed silent, but police in other areas are taking the threat seriously.
“We’re going to take any threat that we receive seriously, particularly one that encourages and incites violence against our community,” Louisville Metro Police Department Sergeant and spokesman Phil Russell told local broadcaster Wave3.
At the same time, a viral hoax was going around from satire website Cream Bmp saying 112 people were murdered in Chicago after teenagers attempted to reenact scenes from the film. The article was posted late last month but it went viral on Friday again.
The Purge and its recent sequel are movies that are set in a fictionalized version of the United States.
The Purge refers to a period of time in which basically any crime is legalized. The only rules are that no high government official can be murdered and the other is that no weapons such as rocket launchers are allowed.
The Purge was released in 2013 while The Purge: The Anarchy hit theaters earlier this year.
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