Police arrest 12 for fighting at Georgetown after video goes viral

GEORGE TOWN: Twelve men were arrested by the police after they were believed to be involved in a fight at Jalan Farquhar on Thursday (Sept 30) night.

George Town OCPD Asst Comm Soffian Santong said the incident occurred near a petrol station and videos of the fight went viral on social media.

"Police received a report from the public on Thursday (Sept 30) night about a fight involving two groups of men," he said in a statement.

Acting on the report, police sent a team from George Town Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the scene and arrested three suspects at about 11.45pm on Sept 30, said ACP Soffian.

He said based on information received from the suspects, police from the district police headquarters and D7 team from state police headquarters arrested another nine suspects between 3am to 8am on Oct 1, believed to be involved in the fight.

He said that the fight started when the two groups, who were at a restaurant in Georgetown, had a disagreement and began fighting using beer bottles as weapons.

He said five of the suspects were injured during the fight, and three of them were found to have prior criminal records.

He said the 12 suspects, aged between 20 and 39, tested negative for drugs and will be remanded until Oct 3.

The case was being investigated under Section 148 of the Penal Code (rioting with a weapon).

On Saturday (Oct 2), several video clips went viral on social media, showing a group of men involved in a fight near a petrol station at Jalan Farquhar, Penang.

Based on the videos, the men were seen pushing and fighting with each other next to the road.