Featured Image Credit: IAN LANGSDON/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Disneyland, Disney
Anish Vij
A British man has been arrested after allegedly trying to take part in a mock wedding with a nine-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris.
The theme park said in a statement that part of it had been privately hired for the fake ceremony on Saturday morning (21 June) before it was back open again to the public.
Police were alerted shortly after the 'ceremony' began as the bride in a wedding dress appeared to be a young child.
Four people, including a 22-year-old British man who was allegedly dressed as the 'groom', were taken into custody.
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The girl's mother, 41, was one of the four who were arrested, while two others are being questioned over claims of money laundering and fraud.
It is thought that the British man was responsible for organising the mock wedding, which involved the help of an agency to recruit nearly 80 extras for the filmed rehearsal, reports France Bleu.
Disneyland Paris said via a translated statement that 'a private event planned in our destination was immediately cancelled by our teams after the identification of important irregularities'.
The amusement park confirmed that 'police were quickly alerted and intervened on the spot as soon as possible'.
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Disneyland said it has also 'filed a complaint with the competent authorities' and is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Alexandre Verney, assistant prosecutor for the Seine-et-Marne department, said: “Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organiser of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24.
“It wasn’t a wedding but a staged wedding that was to be filmed with a hundred extras.
“They had privately hired Disneyland, claiming that it was a real marriage.”
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It comes after a witness told French newspaper Le Parisien: “We were not told at any time that it was about a film shoot.
“We all thought we were going to be part of a wedding.
“Everyone was stunned. No one expected this.
“Disneyland does things very well.
“They immediately cancelled when they understood that the bride was a kid.
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“We were sickened by that.”
An extra also claimed they noticed 'a small child with a wedding dress' who appeared to be 'tiny'.
They said they saw 'a lady take her in her arms' and that's when the authorities acted quickly to diffuse and deal with the situation.
LADbible Group has contacted Disneyland Paris and the Paris Police Prefecture for comment.