Younes Zaraou, German influencer, rescued by Bengaluru police as massive crowd gathers at Church Street

German influencer Younes Zarou, who has over 21 million followers on Instagram, had to be recued by police in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening after a large crowd gathered during a visit to Church Street, TOI reported.

Earlier, Zaraou had posted on social media, “Church Street, we are coming,” attracting thousands of fans in the bustling area.

Police arrived at the spot to disperse the crowd for public safety reasons once they were alerted. The police found it difficult to take Zaraou out of the crowd.


"Around 4pm, we received a call at the police control room and immediately rushed to the spot. By then, around 2,000 people had gathered. We brought Zarou safely out of the crowd and allowed him to leave the place. No case has been registered," he told TOI.

The influencer was taken to safety in a police vehicle and was dropped off at another location after assuring officials he would not go back to Church Street without permissions.

Recently, popular British singer Ed Sheeran was reportedly stopped from performing impromptu on Church Street due to the lack of official clearance.

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A post shared by Younes Zarou (@youneszarou)

After the incident, Zarou said in an Instagram post: “I am survived and I am fine. Bengaluru is not for beginners. Thanks to the police chief, without him I think I would be somewhere else now.”

Who is Younes Zarou?

Younes Zaraou is a 27-year-old Instagram influencer born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and grew up in Flörsheim am Main. He is of Moroccan descent, not Indian as sometimes mistakenly reported.

He started TikTok on 2019, creating illusion-style videos that quickly gained widespread attention. His creative content has earned him nearly 57 million TikTok followers, making him one of the most popular creators in Germany.

Zarou is also active on Instagram, where he has over 21 million followers, and on YouTube, where he regularly shares fun behind-the-scenes clips and shorts that reveal the process behind his illusions.

He launched his YouTube channel on 6 May 2021 and by 2022, he had surpassed 1.1 million subscribers. As of 2025, he has 22.4 million subscribers, with 1.3 billion views amassed in just one year.

His most viewed video, titled “Do not waste resources”, was uploaded on 10 October 2022 and has racked up 659 million views and over 22 million likes.