Albanian police called to 'Isis invasion' after Aladdin-themed music video actors mistaken for militants

Singer explains the people in her video are meant to look like Aladdin and Ali-Baba

Ronela Hajati explained that the people involved were dressed as “Aladdin and Ali-Baba” and were not meant to look like an Isis invasion. (ronelahajatiofficial)

Albanian police were bombarded with calls reporting an apparent Isis invasion after panicked locals mistook actors in a music video for members of the militant group.

Officers were called to the location of the shoot outside capital city Tirana after the sudden appearance of dozens of people in supposedly Arab-style dress prompted a number of worried reports.

But singer-songwriter Ronela Hajati took to social media to explain the suspected terrorists were extras in her new video.

Writing in Albanian, the 26-year-old's post on Instagram said the cast members were supposed to be dressed like “Aladdin and Ali-Baba”.

 

Mos krijoni drama kot...gjss i kerkoj ndjese cdo njeriu qe mund te jete frikesuar nga keqinterpretimet e mediave.... eshte nje kenge e re qe ende nuk eshte publikuar me motive orienti ndaj i jemi pershtatur...se kuptoj si mund te keqkuptoni nje realizim simulativ qe jam e bindur qe kur te publikohet do te qartesohen shume gjera qe skane as lidhjen me te vogel me te keqen! -Coming soon-

A video posted by Ronela Hajati (@ronelahajatiofficial) on Nov 21, 2015 at 1:28pm PST

In the video, the singer dances on top of a car while the actors hang out of windows with their arms raised and two other packed vehicles drive behind them.

She asked people to “calm down” and apologised for any fear she caused, saying she does “not create drama in vain”.

She wrote: “I apologise if anyone may be frightened by media mis-representations. [This] is a new song that has not yet been published. It has an oriental background and we interpreted the song accordingly.

“It is still to me incomprehensible that part of the video could be misinterpreted in this way and I’m sure that once people see the full video it will be clear that we weren’t in any way attempting to cash in on the recent terrible events.”

The Mirror reported that one of the worried locals who notified the police was local MP Mesila Doda, who posted images on her Facebook account.


 The singer dances on top of a truck wearing a large feathered headdress
 (ronelahajatiofficial)

The apology was not enough for some people. One Instagram user called 'Handmade_boutique123456789' wrote: “You got what you wanted didn’t you. Nobody outside Albania knew who you were but now we all do. Free publicity!”

Another user, 'Megmegaaa', said “How ignorant you are.”

But other social media users were less concerned. 'Si_mo_na12' wrote: “No problem... These outfits have no connection with Isis."

Ms Hajati also posted a photo on Instagram of her and the other actors in their outfits.