KUALA LUMPUR: Popular artiste Hael Husaini was expecting to be swept over by the charms of Paris from the get-go but had a rude awakening instead after arriving in the City of Love.
According to a recent news report, the 31-year-old singer-songwriter, whose real name is Hal Husaini Razmi, was caught off guard by a harrowing moment during riots that took place there last Saturday.
The Jampi, Haram and Hajat hitmaker's manager, Taufiq, explained that the two of them were in Paris as part of a holiday trip to several European countries.
"We had just arrived in Paris from Switzerland and were on our way to our abode. During our journey we saw that many roads were closed by the police so we had no choice but to walk the rest of the way to our destination.
"Some of the areas were cordoned off by the police with armoured vehicles. Then we heard repeated shots and saw people running from all over the place towards us.
"Apparently, it was tear gas and we had to also run away and it took us about an hour of moving around different areas to save ourselves," said Taufiq.
According to international news reports, French police had clashed in Paris with protesters staging a fourth weekend of "yellow vest" demonstrations against the government of President Emmanuel Macron.
About 8,000 police personnel who were on the streets fired rubber bullets and hundreds of canisters of tear gas at the 10,000 or so demonstrators, some of whom had set vehicles on fire.
In an Instagram post, Taufiq wrote: "It was a scary and tense moment as we were trapped during the riots in Paris. Just picture the two of us running for our lives while dragging four heavy items of luggage all over the place. My back was certainly feeling it."
He said that they eventually managed to get to their destination which was located upstairs right above part of where the riots had taken place.
Taufiq added that he was very grateful that the two of them did not suffer any injuries during the whole dangerous affair.
They also received assistance from some of the people there who realised that they were just tourists.
“Although they were quite aggressive during the protest, we were lucky since they realised that we were only tourists and they then helped to bring us to the safe areas.
“The protestors later cleared out after an hour or so and we were allowed to go to our abode upstairs but the police had advised us not to go anywhere.
"So we only stayed in the whole time that day and got food and drinks closeby," said Taufiq.