In another horrifying instance of knife crime in the UK, an entertainment complex in Birmingham was evacuated after around 100 people, some carrying machetes, stormed the cinema and began brawling over the release of a new gangster movie.
A group of mostly youths, armed with machetes, arrived at a Birmingham cinema on Saturday night, breaking out into fights. Armed police were called to the scene of the fight, in which police officers were assaulted and several arrests were made.
According to witnesses, the mayhem broke out over the release of Blue Story, a film which depicts gang culture in southeast London.
“That’s probably one of the scariest moments of my life. Me and my daughter were in a queue to watch Frozen, loads of little kids there, all dressed up and everything, then these girls jumped on another girl and loads of these kids just started fighting,” one witness told The Mirror.
“Armed police came with Tasers. All the people that were fighting run off into the cinema. There’s about 15 to 20 police cars. I’m shaking,” the witness added.
“This is the most horrifying thing I’ve been involved in. I’m scared and I’m 45. [There were] little girls dressed in Frozen dresses crying and screaming. Appalling behaviour all over a gangster film set in London,” another witness said.
Police arrived at the entertainment centre after reports of armed youths roaming the cinema with machetes poured in.
“A number of arrests have been made following disorder at Star City in Birmingham tonight.
“We were called just before 5.35 pm to reports that a group of people with machetes had arrived at the cinema within the complex.
“Officers arrived to find a group of more than 100 people, and pockets of fighting broke out as police moved to clear the area. A number of police officers have been assaulted, and several arrests have been made,” a spokesman for West Midlands Police said.
The BBC reports that five of the arrests were of teenagers. One 13-year-old girl, a boy and a girl both aged 14, and a 19-year-old male were held on suspicion of assaulting police while a 14-year-old boy was held on suspicion of obstructing police.
On Friday evening, two people were also arrested in neighbouring Wolverhampton, after a man was attacked with a machete and an ‘imitation’ fire-arm, reports the Birmingham Mail. One man aged 29 and a 31-year-old woman were arrested; the victim thankfully only suffered minor injuries to his hand.
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