A screenshot taken from the footage taken at Canal Walk.
A large group of people caused havoc at the Canal Walk shopping centre in Cape Town over the weekend, throwing various objects in an escalator fight that injured one security guard.
The group was in the mall’s food court on Saturday night and refused to leave after the centre was closed, said shopping centre CEO Gavin Wood.
He said they had reacted with violence and attacked security guards who were escorting them out of the centre.
“One of the security guards had to be hospitalised.”
A video ostensibly taken that night shows a group of young people crowded on the escalators, while people watch from below and film proceedings with their cellphones.
At one point, a man standing at the top of the escalator takes off his shirt. Someone behind him then throws an object – which looks like a shopping basket – at the group below them.
Someone retaliates and throws the object back, hitting the bare-chested man in the face.
Western Cape police confirmed that officers had responded to a fight at the shopping mall around 11pm on Saturday.
“It is alleged that a group of young people were involved in a fight with a security guard,” said police spokesperson Mihlali Majikela.
Two separate cases of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm were being investigated, with no arrests yet made.
Wood said their security personnel were working closely with police in investigating the matter, “as the safety of our customers is of utmost importance to us”.
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