Woman wields knife at KL, M'sia water music festival, gets tackled by crowd & arrested

A knife-wielding woman at the Rain Rave Water Music Festival in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, was arrested on the night of May 2, 2026, after she was tackled by security personnel and other attendees.

The incident took place during the festival's final night, New Straits Times reported.

Footage of the incident circulated widely online.

Online footage

An Instagram post by user "jxsttin_" showed a woman holding a sharp object that appeared to be a knife.

The person behind the camera said he was near the woman when the incident occurred and was terrified she would break free and attack him.

In the video, a man could be seen grabbing the knife with his arm over the woman's arm in an attempt to disarm her.

Other members of the public could be seen stepping in to restrain her.

A lady pulled the woman by her hair and a man who appeared to be security personnel also intervened.

The woman was later wrestled to the ground and pinned face down.

Police subsequently arrived to handcuff her and take her into custody, NST reported.

Arrested

Her arrest was confirmed by a Kuala Lumpur police chief who said the incident took place in a crowd of around 30,000 people, Malay Mail reported.

According to the chief, 500 officers were deployed to strategic locations to maintain order throughout the event, which also saw Malaysia's Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister present.

Apart from the incident, the three-day festival, which drew a total of 180,000 people, ran smoothly with no other major issues reported, said the chief.

The chief added that the woman had been detained and would undergo the remand process on the morning of May 3.