Street fights are nothing new in everyday life in Vietnam. When two groups of men or women gather and stare each other down, we know it’s only a matter of time before they start bumping chests and wielding their weapons. In such a case, most of us bystanders either walk away to avoid trouble or call the police for timely intervention.
But that was not how things went down in a street brawl in a village in northern Vietnam. After failing to persuade 2 groups of young men with weapons from getting into a street fight, some villagers used buffalo poop to chase them away.
Image adapted from: Thịnh Nguyễn
In a post that went viral on Vietnamese social media on 5th April, a group of over 10 men were captured running away as several middle-aged women threw what looked like buffalo poop at them. According to the poster familiar with the story, the event happened in a village in northern Vietnam.
As two groups of aggressive young men with weapons came together and started flexing their arms, villagers living nearby knew that they were about to get into a brawl.
Some villagers, most of whom were middle-aged and elderly women, came over to persuade them to stop fighting. However, in the heat of the moment, the young men refused to leave.
Image credit: Thịnh Nguyễn
Seeing that non-violent means didn’t work, the villagers resorted to a weapon that was free and readily available on the roadside – buffalo poop. Moments later, the villagers returned to the scene with bags of the poop, and joined the battlefield.
Image adapted from: Tuyên Xăm Bắc Giang
The villagers picked up the buffalo poop with their bare hands and started throwing it at the young men.
Image credit: Tuyên Xăm Bắc Giang
Unable to withstand the smell of buffalo poop flying over their heads from all directions, the young men started running away.
Image adapted from: Tuyên Xăm Bắc Giang
After the unexpected crossfire ceased, policemen came to the scene only to find buffalo poop all over the place and a few men pacing around while covered with poop.
Another detail that netizens noticed was that most of the men were wearing face masks. Some jokingly asked if they had put on masks to protect their faces from the poop or the smell, or if they had gone into the fight masked up because they were abiding by COVID-19 health guidelines.
It’s uncertain if these young men will come back for another fight with each other, but they surely went home that day feeling shocked that what started out as a physical fight ended up as a buffalo poop attack.
While breaking up a fight using physical methods should be our last resort, seeing these villagers put up a united front to defend their peaceful environment using buffalo poop is an eye-opener.
Not only did these villagers help us understand the power of unity, but they also taught us that riot control weapons don’t have to be lethal to be effective.
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Cover image adapted from: Thịnh Nguyễn and Tuyên Xăm Bắc Giang
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