Lawless London: Shocking footage shows moment 'two men took their shirts off before throwing punches at each other in the middle of a busy high street'

Footage has emerged of the shocking moment two men throw punches at one another in the middle of a busy high street, bringing traffic to a standstill.

The clip sees one man, wearing just a black tracksuit and trainers, being restrained by a large group on the side of a packed Streatham High Road in south London.

As he wanders into the main road, a man and a woman follow him and attempt to drag him out of the way of oncoming traffic, which includes vans and buses.

The video, filmed high above the chaotic scene, shows the tailback start stretching further and further with a large truck at the front of the queue keeping its distance.

Horrified bystanders watch on as the shirtless man shoves someone, who is trying to get him out of the way of vehicles.

On the pavement, people seem to be holding back another man in a motorcycle helmet who appears to be making for the individual now standing in the middle of the road.

The second man then joins the group in the street with drivers starting to lose patience as they wait for the commotion to die down.

When the participants briefly stumble back towards the pavement, the truck takes it chance to speed away and avoid a further wait.

But the scrappers soon take the fight back onto the road with the biker now having taken off his helmet.

Horns start blaring as the scuffle continues but the rest of the group eventually manage to break up the two men who finally go their separate ways.

Even after the scrap has finished, the shirtless participant remains in the road, gesturing towards people on the pavement, as traffic begins to move again.

Police soon arrived at the scene and found one of the men lying on the floor.

The man's condition was assessed as not life-threatening and no arrests were made.

Kenneth Cooke, who filmed the violent scene from his home, said: 'It was mid-afternoon and I heard a lot of yelling going on outside.

'So I looked out my window and two guys with their shirts off were punching each other in the middle of the road.

'Lots of people were trying to break them up.'

Mr Cooke said that the pair had been fighting before he started filming the incident.

'They were yelling and lots of buses and cars were honking,' he said. 'Eventually one of them was dragged away by his friends and the other guy tried to kick a motorcycle over three times before the rider pulled out what looked like a blade.

'Everyone then scattered and he rode off.'

The scrap is the latest instalment of Lawless London chaos in the capital and Londoners have reacted with dismay at the incident.

Commenting below the video posted on NextDoor, Dave Hamilton wrote: 'Broken, violent Britain - no surprises here.

'Spineless politicians, weak sentencing, absent policing.'

Elaine Chambers added: 'We are slowly becoming a lawless state where people have no regard for others.'

And Majella McCaffrey said: 'The world's gone mad. Especially since lockdown, people's anger has gone through the roof.'

Others questioned the reason the men had undressed with Roy Evans saying: 'It's shocking enough that they're brawling.

'But what's their need to strip off?'

Féa Erzi looked on the bright side and commented: 'Well, at least no knives were involved.'

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'We were called at 07:47hrs on Friday March 22 to reports of a fight on Streatham High Road, SW16, outside Tesco.

'Officers responded to two men fighting and found one man lying on the floor.

'London Ambulance Service was called - his condition was assessed as not life-threatening. There have been no arrests.

'Enquiries are ongoing and any witnesses are asked to call 101 quoting CAD 1308/22Mar.'