Fight in Jurong West: Man flings durian at another's head, latter returns with knife

Some have described the smell of a durian as a weapon — but how about the durian itself?

A group of men were seen fighting at a durian shop near Block 964 Jurong West Street 91, with one of them appearing to throw a durian at the other, according to a video uploaded to Facebook group Complaint Singapore on Saturday (July 13).

In the video taken on Thursday (July 11), two men — one wearing a white top and another who's shirtless — have a verbal confrontation next to a durian stall.

A man in orange and another in red stand between the two, but the argument escalates into a fight when the man in orange pushes the shirtless man, who falls over.

Cursing, the shirtless man gets up and takes a swing at the man in orange, but is held back by two men in red.

The man in white takes the chance to throw a few punches at the shirtless man — as he does so, the man in orange grabs a durian from the shop beside him, flinging the durian at the shirtless man's head from up close.

The shirtless man then manages to land a punch on both the man in orange and the one in white before the fight is broken up.

He then walks away from the fight, inspecting his wounds before going up to a stack of plastic baskets to retrieve a long knife.

As he brandishes the knife and walks back to the durian shop, a few passers-by stop him from approaching.

He then takes a seat away from the shop to recover while the man in orange continues to goad him from a distance as the video ends.

Fight caused by dispute over queue

Shin Min Daily News reported on Saturday that the fight was caused by a dispute over a queue that formed outside the durian shop, according to employees who witnessed the incident.

A queue of over 10 customers had formed outside the shop, obstructing the pathway to a vegetable stall reportedly run by the shirtless man.

"There were a lot of people at the time, so the owner of the produce stall came over to negotiate. I don't know what he said, but he already had a conflict with the owner's father a long time ago. We were worried, so we notified the boss to come down," an employee who did not wish to be named told Shin Min.

When the boss — dressed in a white T-shirt — arrived, they spoke further, but the conversation escalated into an argument, the employee explained, adding that the man in orange is his boss' father.

"The vegetable stall owner even held a knife at one point, which was pretty scary at the time," he stated.

Responding to queries from AsiaOne, the police said that they were alerted to the situation at around 7.45pm on Thursday.

Three men, aged 30, 52 and 58, were conscious when taken to the hospital and were subsequently arrested for affray.

ALSO READ: Man confronts Jurong durian sellers, slaps one, challenges another to a fight

khooyihang@asiaone.com