14 teenage 'evil clowns' arrested in southern France as craze spreads

[Muslera]

14 teenage 'evil clowns' arrested in southern France as craze spreads

Alarm over menacing pranksters in circus garb spreads to towns in southern France

PUBLISHED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 5:30am
UPDATED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 5:30am

Agence France-Presse in Paris

A video was uploaded to YouTube showing a terrifying clown pranking people - which has had some 31 million views

A wave of panic sparked by evil clowns stalking French towns has spread to the south of France where police arrested 14 teenagers dressed as the pranksters, carrying pistols, knives and baseball bats.

A police source said the group were arrested on Saturday night in the car park of a high school in the port town of Agde, as several other complaints poured in over "armed clowns" in the region over the weekend.

In the Mediterranean city of Montpellier a man disguised as a clown was arrested after beating up a pedestrian with an iron bar, while three motorists in different towns complained about "scary clowns" threatening them.

The phenomenon of dressing up as an evil clown and terrifying passers-by - a trend which has also been seen in the United States and Britain - cropped up in the north of France early this month.

In the northern French town of Bethune, a fake clown last week received a six-month suspended jail term for threatening passers-by while in circus garb.

Using fake weapons these "clowns" have been "mostly spotted outside schools, but also on public roads, in bushes, in a square. Their targets are often young children or teenagers, but also adults", a police source in northern France said.

Theories abound as to the origin of the trend in a country where Halloween is not celebrated on a large scale.

These include a challenge launched on social networks, a video published on YouTube showing a terrifying clown pranking people - which has had some 31 million views - or even a recent episode of popular series American Horror Story featuring Twisty the killer clown.

After a rumour a clown was stalking the eastern town of Mulhouse, five teenagers on Wednesday armed themselves with a baseball bat, a tear gas canister, a hammer and a truncheon to mete out vigilante justice to the not-so-funny pranksters.

They were arrested and later released, but the incident prompted the national police to step in to quell the hysteria.