An afternoon brawl in the busy shop­ping area of Makoi involving men from the locality and a group from Ra shocked residents and shoppers.

The fight started around 3pm between the vegetable vendors from Ra, who came to sell their produce from the villages, and men from the local neighbourhood.

An employee of a shop in the area Tikiko Inoke said what he gathered was that mem­bers from both groups were drinking alco­hol together.

“There was talk about one of the boys punching the other when he was not look­ing and then he wants a fair fight,” he said.

“And because of that, everyone got in­volved.”

The Makoi area has supermarkets, pro­duce vendors and a service station that serves a wider Nasinu community.

A frequent shopper, school teacher Roshni Mala, said the sight was frightful.

“I was really scared. I didn’t know what to do. I held my husband and froze. I thought one of them might come my way,” she said.

Taxi driver Abhay Nand said fights had broken out before in the area and most in­volved people drinking liquor.

“These men they drink and they come to buy the alcohol from the shops here. So it is not uncommon for them to start fights,” he said.

“The funny thing is that the Police station is across the road.”

Yesterday, the yelling and fighting ensued for almost 10 minutes without any sign of Police officers.

An earlier Police statement said past trends showed an increase in alcohol con­sumption and urged members of the public to be cautious.

Edited by Percy Kean