S'porean aunties & uncles argue with Courts staff, ignore police over S$54 Huawei phone

Piping hot mess.

Mandy How | July 26, 2019, 04:21 PM

The aunties and uncles are out in full force for Huawei's S$54 Y6 Pro phone.

"Huawei can or not?"

Their guts and gumption was witnessed by one Rizzuan A., who then posted the scene to Twitter on July 26, 2019.

Rizzuan, who was at Causeway Point to buy a phone on behalf of his parents, reported that the queue was "crazy" at 9:37am.

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-1.mp4"][/video]

However, Courts was reportedly only selling 80-90 sets.

Cue chaos.

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-2.mp4"][/video]

In the videos, raised voices from the customers could be heard, and some were also gesticulating wildly at the Courts staff and in general.

Here's a gif, in case you didn't watch it:

The employee was holding signs that read "Huawei P6 Pro Sold Out".

According to Rizzuan, one customer even took a "sold out" sign from the employee and tore it into half, inciting cheers from the crowd.

The Twitter user added that a "protest leader" emerged, and was repeatedly shouting "Huawei can or not?" while the rest echoed the phrase.

Police arrived

At 11am, when the store was supposed to open, doors remained closed due to the overwhelming amount of people outside.

The police had also arrived at the scene, presumably to contain the crowd.

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-3.mp4"][/video]

Rizzuan adds that a whole "squad" was there, although it was unclear exactly how many officers were present.

No one moved even when an officer screamed into the megaphone, the witness said.

Rizzuan left the scene at 11am, and said that his phone was running low on battery.

Crowd control

At around 1pm, Rizzuan updated on Twitter that the police had managed to control the crowd afterwards.

He then posted two more videos which were likely taken at 11am, before he left the scene.

Jeers and claps could be heard from the crowd.

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-4.mp4"][/video]

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-6.mp4"][/video]

This uncle was saying,

" [...] give us an answer. The people from Courts, their big boss, or their senior manager, should explain to us WHY, that's all, W H Y."

Rizzuan observed that the uncle's voice was actually on par with the police officer's:

[video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/07/courts-7.mp4"][/video]

The police told the public, "Please carry on, carry on! Don't stay here, block the way!"

Courts responds

At 12:01pm, Courts put out a statement that all stocks have been fully redeemed, and that the promotion has been discontinued with immediate effect.

In case you can't see:

"Dear Customers, due to the overwhelming response for Huawei Y6 Pro SG54 promotion, all stocks have been fully redeemed today.

The promotion is discontinued with immediate effect at participating stores.

We thank customers for their support and understanding."

You can read Rizzuan's entire thread here:

Top image via Rizzuan A. on Twitter