Comic Fiesta is Malaysia's biggest cosplay manga event of the year.

It took place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Dec. 17 to 18.

Plenty of Singaporean cosplayers and anime fans were there for a chance to meet special guests, attend panels and purchase official and derivative merchandise from local and international creators.

Then, something happened on the second day of the convention.

Bomb scare turned to pepper spray incident

People first noticed that gas was coming out from somewhere, and there were suspicions of a bomb threat. Word began spreading on Facebook.

Soon, however, it was revealed that the incident was a pepper spray attack -- though it did not slow down Facebook users from quickly informing others to get to safety.

While it's a relief to know that it was not a bomb, getting pepper sprayed in a densely-occupied convention centre is no joke.

For starters, it's definitely a skin and eye irritant. 

Pepper spray causes an intense, temporary debilitating burning sensation, temporary blindness and a host of other issues that may last between 30 minutes and two hours.

Evidence surfaced

Photographic evidence soon surfaced on Facebook, posted by a witness who later took down the post for some reason.

Screenshots of the removed post were re-uploaded to forum site 4Chan and also reproduced in a Facebook post by user Dominique Lim.

In his post, he denounced the pepper spray user, who was dressed in a military simulation costume (milsim), condemning his actions as one that is highly unacceptable by the local tactical community.

By then, the cosplay community had seemingly identified the culprit.

The perpetrator is suspected to be Mohammad Azzan, as cosplayers saw selfies and pictures with him that matched the detained attacker's outfit.

Azzan had gained infamy months earlier due to allegations of harassment of various girls in the cosplay community.

More Facebook posts bearing eyewitness reports and videos surfaced in the meantime, which fleshed out a bit more context behind the pepper spray incident.

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Self-defence from harassment

Witnesses mentioned that they heard that people were provoking Azzan, and in his defence, he allegedly waved a baton to fend off others, as seen in the video below.

According to a booth owner nearby, this didn't directly lead to him using pepper spray, so it could have been yet another group of individuals that caused him to use the weapon, rather than the prior group involved in provoking him.

As seen in this post as well, more information provided by both Facebook users and anonymous users on 4Chan claiming that the pepper spray that was used was actually a "bear spray", which is less intense in its effects.

This is probably because, from the photos that surfaced from the incident, the cannister matches that of a bear spray.

Official response from authorities

Dang Wangi police chief Assistant Commissioner Shaharudin Abdullah said the suspect was detained by security personnel after he allegedly assaulted a security supervisor and a patron, who had tried to apprehend him for “causing trouble” at the festival.

According to an official report by The Malay Mail Online, the suspect was supposedly causing trouble at the convention. 

He has not been confirmed to be Azzan, or otherwise.

Earlier, the supervisor had received alerts of a rowdy visitor at 6.45 pm, and made his way to Exhibition Hall 2 with the said patron to confront the suspect, who then lashed out with the pepper spray.

The suspect was also in possession of the canister of bear spray that was speculated to be in use by him. The suspect is also found to have a baton, knife, and paintball gun.

The patron was sent to the hospital for treatment, and the supervisor was also injured in the process. A police report was made to the Dang Wangi police station that night at 8.56pm, and the suspect has since been arrested.

Bullying

Some, in response to the chatter and comments making fun of the suspect, voiced out their concerns on the matter.

While they do not condone what the suspect may have done in the past, they were concerned with the overall lack of action taken against those who had provoked the suspect.

Top image adapted via Zixk Aruji on Facebook and screenshot from Dominique Lim's post