One person was hospitalised after a mass brawl broke at a kickboxing event at a hotel in Co Clare on Saturday night.
Shocking video footage of the incident was posted on social media showing the vicious altercation during which chairs, bottles and other projectiles were thrown at people.
The “Fight Night”, held at the Oakwood Hotel in Shannon and organised by a local kickboxing club, was brought to a sudden halt at around 11pm as a number of people became involved in row on the function room floor.
As many as ten men and women were involved in the serious public order incident to which gardaí from Shannon and Ennis responded.
Onlookers attempted to calm the situation and break up the brawl as chairs were flung across the hall. The video shows how a number of people were injured, with some left lying on the ground apparently unconscious.
As the situation appeared to be calming down, video footage showed a man throw a punch that knocked another man to the ground. One person could be heard asking another to call an ambulance for the unconscious man.
One man who attended the event said: “This was such a well organised event and so many people put so much preparation into it. I’m disgusted it ended as it did. I feel for the organisers who didn’t deserve to see all their hard work come to this. What happened was shocking and frightening.”
Gardaí said one man was taken to hospital for treatment but wasn’t seriously injured.
“There were no arrests on the night but the investigation is ongoing,” a garda spokesman said. “We are looking at CCTV and other footage of this incident as part of this investigation.”
Local Sinn Féin Councillor Mike McKee said he was “absolutely disgusted” with what happened.
“This event has been held on an annual basis for a number of years and is a family event and there has never been any trouble or hassle at them.
“Unfortunately, I’m led to believe, people from outside Shannon caused this mayhem towards the end of the evening and there cannot be any excuses for this despicable behaviour from a bunch of louts who didn’t give a toss about the effect this might have on the young supporters of the club who had to witness this.
“The organisers deserve full credit, and have my full support, for organising the event. It was completely out of their control as to what happened,” Cllr McKee added.