Huge police response called to tackle three black Airbnb guests because neighbour assumed they were burglars

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A helicopter and a squad of police cars were sent to detain a group of black friends while they stayed in an Airbnb after a neighbour called the authorities because they thought a burglary was underway.

Three friends, including one of Bob Marley’s granddaughters, were leaving the Airbnb rental property in Rialto, California, when they were surrounded by police officers and ultimately arrested.

The neighbour saw the group of friends, whom she did not recognise, loading a car with suitcases.

One of the women detained filmed the incident and shared it on Facebook.

“They informed us that there was also a helicopter tracking us. They locked down the neighbourhood and had us standing in the street,” Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, a film-maker, said.

“At first we joked about the misunderstanding,” she said, but added that “it escalated almost instantly”.

“Their sergeant arrived... he explained they didn’t know what Airbnb was. He insisted that we were lying about it and said we had to prove it.

“We showed them the booking confirmations and phoned the landlord... because they didn’t know what she looked like on the other end to confirm it was her.. they detained us - because they were investigating a felony charge - for 45 minutes while they figured it out."

Donisha Prendergast, another of the women detained, who is also a granddaughter of Bob Marley, said she was “still trying to digest” what had happened.

“I also am deeply meditating on the why not. Why this should not have happened. Why they should not have reacted with such unnecessary force … Why this is not a simple misunderstanding,” she said.

“Why this neighbour who was so fearful without any justified reason, should not have the power to potentially destroy another life because of the colour of her skin.”

It is not the first time Airbnb has found itself embroiled in a race related scandal.

The hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack went viral a year ago, when black users of the service shared stories of racial discrimination, including hosts refusing to rent their homes to them apparently because of the colour of their skin.