Mob Surrounds Man After Store Incident, but They Had No Clue Who He Was

Epoch Newsroom
10/4/2015
Updated:
4/4/2016

A video reportedly showing a mob in Turkey trying to beat down a man has circulated online.

The video shows the man, described by Turkish media as an “Irish boxer and tourist” accidentally spilling a fridge full of bottles of water in a store. This incident sparks an argument that leads to some shopkeepers hitting the unarmed tourist with sticks, chairs, and other makeshift weapons.

But they had no clue the Irish tourist is actually a “professional boxer,” and he began to punch the men coming at home, at one point knocking one down with a single punch. Haberturk TV first published the footage, which it said was captured on CCTV in the Istanbul neighborhood of Aksaray.

Hurryiet Daily News later named the pugilist as Kuwaiti-born Irish citizen Mohammed Fadel Dobbous, though reports cast doubts on the initial claims that he’s a pro boxer. A source at the Irish consulate told The Independent that the shop owners were to blame. 

“The shop owner overreacted and attacked the tourist with a stick,” he said. “The surprising thing is that the tourist turned out to be a pro boxer and knocked down the angry shopkeepers one by one.”