A vicious brawl involving 25 men armed with knives, metal poles and hammers has erupted as a Muslim family celebrated the end of Ramadan in a multicultural Sydney suburb.
Video of the fight obtained by 7News shows a large group of men, most dressed in traditional Islamic garb, fighting outside a home in the suburb of Merrylands, which has large Lebanese and Afghan immigrant populations.
The brawl was triggered by a dispute over food when uninvited guests converged on the home on Mark Street at about 1.30pm on Sunday, and the ensuing clash left three people in hospital, including one with multiple stab wounds to his back.
“I think I saw around 20 men throwing punches at each other. I did see some metal rods, maybe a hammer,” a witness said.
When asked about the fight, the homeowner said: “I no English please.”
Two of the injured men were sent to Westmead Hospital, and the other to Blacktown Hospital, and a police forensics team was called to the scene while the whole street was cordoned off by police.
One local resident told The Daily Telegraph he was unable to return to his home after arriving about an hour after the brawl.
“I couldn’t even get to my house – there were so many police cars,” he said.
“We recognise most of the neighbours around here, but we’ve never met them. It’s a great neighbourhood, and this sort of thing just doesn’t happen here. It never has.”
NSW Police are treating the fight as a domestic violence incident, and believe all involved were known to each other.
At the time of the 2021 Census just 10.9% of Merrylands residents said they had Australian ancestry, 40.9% were born in Australia, 27.5% were Muslim, and 26.2% spoke only English at home.
Header image: Left, right, the brawl (7News).
