Back in the day a fight a school fight used to consist of everyone standing in a circle shouting ‘Barney’, until a teacher intervened and students scattered to avoid further punishment.
The times they are a-changing, because over in London school brawlers are now armed with knives and bats.
Footage of the brawl is grainy, which is surprising when you consider that there were probably 100 kids standing around with their phones out, but before we look at that let’s hear from Stuff:
The violence unfolded between youths reportedly from rival stomping grounds of Northumberland Heath in Bexley, southeast London…
The brawl was possibly sparked by gang rivalry between schools in the area, according to social media speculation, the report said.
In the footage, one youth ends up on the ground and a crowd kick and hit him with bats…
Police, in a statement, said more than 100 youths were involved in the “large scale fight”.
Officers from southeast London and the Metropolitan Police territorial support group were called to the scene.
A police helicopter and police dogs were also deployed.
Take a look at that grainy footage I mentioned then:
ERITH update: Shocking footage taken during a mass brawl in Erith yesterday between around 100 children from different schools. pic.twitter.com/mxd6qGF8hX
— Kent 999s (@Kent_999s) September 20, 2016
And proof of that police presence:
My lovely home town of Northumberland Heath pic.twitter.com/BiWYb55ExJ
— Yamborghini (@Shane_Newman1) September 19, 2016
Here’s a rather chilling eyewitness account:
…a group of around 20 or 30 boys surrounded another group and the sound of someone being beaten was audible.
“My partner was in the park with our dog and saw a black boy with blood all over, even coming out of his eye and nose but police were then with him. The helicopter was up for nearly two hours,” the witness said.
Even TIME got in on the act:
“It’s a miracle nobody was killed,” a local bar owner [said].
The standoff reportedly lasted for two hours. Seven youths were arrested and two taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
This doesn’t sound like the kind of barney that can be sorted out behind the woodwork room after school, with a few wild swings and some curse words thrown into the mix.
