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Neighbourhood residents intervene to stop fight breaking out

A heated WhatsApp argument between Indian expatriates living in Sharjah broke out into a physical confrontation and was only stopped from getting out of hand by other group members and residents of the neighbourhood.

The social media exchange took place last week between two friends who hail from the South Indian state of Karnataka.

“One of them who lives in Al Nahda was offended by a post about an incident that happened a few years ago.

“Other WhatsApp group members joined the debate and some are believed to have labelled the Al Nahda resident as a ‘culprit’,” said a person familiar with the incident.

“On social media, the two involved challenged each other and called for a face-to-face meeting to decide who is right,” says the source.

’Emirates24|7’ learnt that the fight centered around a romantic matter of the past.

“Then one of the involved members took his vehicle and went to the flat of the other member, who was the source of the allegedly offensive post.

“From outside, he yelled and challenged him, leading to a scuffle and mayhem,” says the source.

Onlookers and others living in the neighbourhood were totally in the dark about the reasons for the sudden shouting in an otherwise peaceful residential area.

“They were talking in a local dialect. We realised that the fight was all about a WhatsApp post that one of them took very seriously,” said a resident of the area.

“Many of my friends use WhatsApp and they are very active, too. Sometimes there are heated debates and the role of the moderator is very crucial. We have heard of physical fights in India, but here such cases are rare,” said another active WhatsApp user in Dubai.