Shoppers flee Mullingar street brawl

Six people were arrested by gardaí in Mullingar this afternoon, after feuding Travellers turned the centre of the town into a battlefield.

According to eyewitnesses, members of two local families clashed in Oliver Plunkett Street as people were going about their daily work around 4pm.

People, including shoppers and children returning from school, ran for cover as up to ten people engaged in a pitched battle which lasted up to ten minutes.

Gardaí, including plainclothes officers, along with members of the Armed Support Unit, were quickly on the scene and succeeded in separating the two groups, while effecting at least six arrests.

A number of those who were engaged in the fighting sustained injury and one was taken from the scene by patrol car for treatment at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar.

Up to six people are currently in custody at Mullingar Garda Station.

In the aftermath of the clash, its ferocity was clear to be seen from a pool of blood which remained on the footpath.