March 8, 2013 12:59

Five arrested in Russia for doing Harlem Shake on WWII memorial

Dancers claim they filmed clip as tribute to soldier friend

Photo: Press

Russian police have arrested five people for doing the Harlem Shake viral craze on a World War II memorial.

As is standard with a Harlem Shake clip, the footage starts with one person dancing on their own before more people join in for the latter half of the 30-second clip. Those arrested by police in the Russian town of Urals claimed that the video was a tribute to their friend who serves in the army and that dancing in front of the memorial was their way of supporting him, The Guardian reports.

The Russian incident is not the first time that Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' has led to real-life ramifications. earlier this month, an investigation was launched by the Federal Aviation Administration after a clip filmed on board a US flight at 30,000 feet was uploaded to YouTube. Similarly, a group of Australian miners were sacked for filming themselves and infringing on health and safety laws.

The 'Harlem Shake', a track by Canadian producer Baauer, became a YouTube sensation due to users uploading videos of themselves and their friends dancing to the song, helping it achieve unthinkable levels of popularity and even hitting the top spot in the US charts last month.

Previously, it was estimated that there are over 40,000 different 'Harlem Shake' videos on YouTube with over 175million hits between them, with Baauer claiming top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after becoming the first beneficiary of a change in the rules stipulating that YouTube plays will now count toward the chart figures. The song subsequently bagged the Number One position after scoring 103 million streams of the song in seven days and an additional 262,000 downloads.

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