Mass Barbecue Brawl Quelled
Jun 3, 9:50 am ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Sixty German police rushed to douse a quarrel that erupted when a family barbecue overheated into unbridled violence, with the repeated stabbing of one man in the bottom with a skewer, police said on Tuesday.
"We needed about an hour and a half to calm things down," said Berlin police spokesman Matthias Prange.
Police said the ruckus between some 40 individuals from three families in the capital's central Tiergarten park began when a six-year-old boy was struck in the face with a stick by an unidentified boy.
In the ensuing melee, the victim's brother, 19, received multiple wounds to his hindquarters from an assailant's thrusts with a grilling skewer. He was later treated in hospital.
Amid the flying fists and hair-pulling, two young women battered a 42-year-old woman on the ground with folding chairs, a man had his leg broken, and two young boys were thrashed with a belt and partially throttled by livid barbecuers, police said.
Police made several arrests on arrival. Eight people have since been charged with causing grievous bodily harm.