Chairs, bottles and glasses fly in night club, in scenes reminiscent of the wild west
Michael Commins
NINE young people were taken to hospital and five men were arrested following a massive brawl in a Claremorris night club on Sunday night. Garda reinforcements were called in from neighbouring towns to quell the disturbances which turned the normally sedate night club at the Dalton Inn Hotel into a scene more reminiscent of a wild west movie.
It is understood that a group from outside the county started the commotion in the upstairs part of the club. Soon chairs, bottles and glasses were flying down on the patrons below.
“It was a miracle that no one was killed or suffered severe injuries,” said a local yesterday (Monday). “The place was wrecked with broken glass and furniture and with blood stains from people who had received cuts during the brawl. The likes of it was never seen in Claremorris before. It was frightening, out and out.”
One young man who was present during the scenes said he had never seen anything like it, except in films. “People were screaming and roaring. I saw them beat up a girl as she came out of the toilet. Stools were flying everywhere. The bar was wrecked, bottles smashed, people bleeding.
“You couldn’t believe this was happening in Claremorris. It was like some of those gangster films where people get beaten up all the time. Some of my friends were taken to hospital. One of them is still in Castlebar and he will be there again tonight [Monday]. He got a woeful belt across the head and has had a lot of stitches. He had nothing at all to do with it.”
Another person, who was not in the night club, described the scene outside on the street as one of panic too. “People were rushing out of the place. Some of their friends were still caught up in the mayhem. With the Garda cars and ambulances, it was like one of those disaster drills.
Queries to Claremorris Garda Station were being referred to the Garda Press Office in Dublin yesterday evening. The Mayo News was unable to make contact with the Press Office last night.
However, it is understood that a lot of the scenes have been captured on CCTV and are being examined by gardaí. Forensic experts examined the scene yesterday.
