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Angry sun worshippers brawled on an Italian beach at the weekend after being denied sunbeds in a prime spot near the coast.
Two women demanded to be given sun loungers near the sea, placing them in front of people who had already been on the beach for hours, a local council said. The official saidciting a witness.
The rescuers refused and a A brutal fight broke out between the women and members of the public, with footage showing them wrestling and pulling each other’s hair.
Witnesses said the women turned on beach lifeguards who had been trying to pull them away and the fight continued for “more than half an hour.”
The violent scenes occurred in the seaside resort of Varcaturo, near Naples, where families were enjoying a day out.
Women are seen pulling each other’s hair and struggling to win the fight as members of the public watch helplessly.
Neighbours sent a report to MP Francesco Emilio Borrelli detailing how the “very violent” fight broke out at the popular lido.
Borrelli called it “uncontrolled violence” and said the perpetrators “do not know how to behave in public and need to be re-educated.”
He said the women had put public safety at risk with their violence.
“A fight between women in broad daylight, in front of families and children. For what? Over a deckchair on the seashore. We have surpassed all imagination,” he said.
He continued in a statement on Facebook: ‘Those who think they can do whatever they want, spreading panic on a beach, cannot go unpunished.
“We call for these women to be identified and brought to justice as soon as possible.”
Video of the incident has gone viral online and shows women dressed in swimsuits and beachwear hitting and fighting each other.
Their faces are barely visible in the images as they struggle with bathers trying to control them.
About a dozen people are seen surrounding the women, apparently trying to break up the fierce fight, with little success.
About a dozen people are seen surrounding the women, apparently trying to break up the fight.
One of the women appears to be trying to knock the other to the ground during the fight over the lounge chair.
While so-called sunbed wars are nothing new in Mediterranean resorts, it is rare for them to lead to such violence.
Tourists vying for the best spot have been caught on camera competing with each other for beds at swimming pools and beaches this summer in Spain.
People have also been seen queuing for hours before pools open in an attempt to get a sun lounger.
Footage from last year showed holidaymakers competing with each other for poolside sun loungers as sites opened, with witnesses saying “madness” ensued.
A British mother on holiday in Benidorm last year said she was left close to tears after her family were forced to sit under a water slide after missing the crazy race.
Last year, hotels in southern Spain were forced to crack down on unruly behaviour by holidaymakers fighting for the best sunbathing spots.
A hotel on the Costa del Sol has revealed that they were forced to introduce a system similar to a parking ticket, where towels were left unattended on beds and removed after a time limit.
Meanwhile, at a Greek resort where a similar policy was intended to be implemented, a German family was awarded £280 compensation after losing the chance to enjoy a sun lounger.
The family, who spent £4,532 on their holiday last summer, received the cash after they were unable to get sun loungers at their hotel in Rhodes one morning.
The managers of the TUI Kids Club Atlantica Mikri Poli hotel had implemented a policy according to which guests who placed towels on any of its 500 beds had to use them within 30 minutes. The court found that in this case, the policy had not been applied.
