A video which shows an Irish tourist in a mass brawl with shopkeepers in Istanbul is taking Turkish social media by storm, The Independent reports.
In the footage, a man described by Turkish media as an “Irish boxer/tourist” can be seen in CCTV footage accidentally spilling a fridge full of bottles of water.
This sparks an argument, before a number of shopkeepers start hitting the unarmed tourist with sticks, chairs and other blunt items.
The tourist fights back and at one point knocks one man to the floor with a single punch. Towards the end of the video the tourist appears to continue to want to fight before he is eventually calmed down and led away.
Shopkeepers hit the tourist with a variety of objects including sticks and chairs. At one point the tourist is completely surrounded by locals, some of whom try to break up the fight.
The footage appeared on Haberturk TV on Tuesday night, and went viral on Turkish social media after it was posted to the channel’s Twitter feed, which has 500,000 followers.
The channel said the fight took place in the Istanbul neighbourhood of Aksaray, while a date stamp on the CCTV footage suggested it happened earlier this month.
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The incident has attracted huge interest among Turkish Twitter users, mostly sympathizing with the Irish tourist.
