A Pink Floyd tribute act has claimed a bomb was detonated at their Palmerston North concert on May 28 and alleged the incident has been "kept quiet" by police and the council.
A post shared on the Facebook page of The Pink Floyd Experience claimed "the potential for death or injury was huge" when, they say, an unidentified explosive was detonated in the dressing room toilets of The Regent Theatre on Broadway.
Police and the Palmerston North City Council have confirmed an incident occurred, but refute some of the more alarming claims made by the band.
"Our production manager put the fire out," the Pink Floyd Experience said in its Facebook post, alongside a series of videos showing damage to the walls and ceiling of the bathroom, with a police officer attending the scene.
"Thankfully no one was hurt... why has this been kept quiet?
"I wonder if the people of Palmy know there is a bomber on the loose in their city?"
The post went on to claim that the local council had told the band the incident was one of three recent "bombings" in the area. Several comments from the band note that the alleged incident happened in the "same week" as a bomb scare at Palmerston North Airport on June 3.
Warning: The below videos feature strong language.
A statement given to Newshub from Detective Senior Sergeant Shelley Ross confirmed police were investigating after being called to the Regent Theatre at around 1.20am on May 28, where a toilet had sustained "superficial damage, likely caused by an accelerant".
But there is nothing to back up the band's suggestion of multiple attacks by a "bomber" in the city.
"Police are aware of commentary on social media indicating there have been other similar incidents, however this is the only active investigation of this type within the Manawatū area," Detective Snr Sgt Ross said.
"The Regent Theatre was not open to the public and nobody was injured."
The police are following "multiple lines of enquiry" but were interested in hearing from anyone who witnessed anything which might assist the investigation.
The Pink Floyd Experience refused to provide comment to Newshub, but urged Facebook followers to "share the f**k" out of the post "in this time of cover ups and lies", insisting they "wanted answers" from the authorities.
"They've told us nothing," one comment from the band read, along with an angry emoji face.
In response to one commenter who suggested "someone wants it kept quiet", the band responded: "Yeah, it smells."
Replying to some Facebook users who pointed out the lack of smoke or fire in the videos, the band said the fire had been "confined to a bin", telling those who doubted the legitimacy of the claims: "You're all full of shit. What's wrong with people today? Rather believe a lie than the truth."
"There was malicious intent," the band said, adding in another reply that they feared they could have been targeted.
"We were asked to not say anything and we are now speaking out because we have had no information regarding whether that was an attack on us or not.
"There was an explosion. F**k knows how but it was real. It could easily have killed or hurt someone. That's enough for us to be concerned."
The band dubbed the Palmerston North City Council "dodgy" in other comments on the post. The council did not respond to Newshub's request for comment, but in a statement to Stuff confirmed "minor damage" to the building had been repaired.
The council's chief infrastructure officer Sarah Sinclair characterised the incident as "vandalism" but would not give any further information to Stuff while a police investigation was ongoing.
When asked by a follower if the venue's CCTV had been looked at, the band replied: "Yeah they saw a guy come in and leave but that camera was at the entrance so I didn't catch any more than that and I think the picture wasn't very clear... why doesn't that surprise me?"
Any member of the public with information about the incident can provide it to police by calling 105 and quoting the file number 210529/5028 or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
