An argument over cinema seats erupted into a violent fight involving punches, shoves, kicks and pepper spray.
The incident happened during a screening of horror film Other Mommy at a cinema inside a shopping centre on Wednesday night (14 October).
Around 50 people, including children and elderly people, were watching the movie when the row broke out.
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The argument began when one of the women entered the screening room with her friends and found their allocated seats were occupied.
When she asked the people sitting there to move, an argument broke out.
The situation escalated when one woman attacked another and grabbed her by the hair.
“I lost all my hair to cancer, don’t you dare pull it out!” was among the shouts heard in footage of the incident.
Although a cinema employee intervened and asked those involved to calm down, the confrontation continued.
As people tried to separate the women, one of them pulled out a pepper spray canister and sprayed those nearby.
The irritant spread through the enclosed space, affecting others who had not been involved in the dispute.
The screening was interrupted and cinema-goers were forced to evacuate the room in Paraná, Argentina.
However, the violent confrontation spilled out into the shopping centre’s corridors, with those involved hurling insults and accusations at each other.
Emergency services attended to help those affected by the pepper spray, as reported by Need To Know.
Several people received medical attention at the scene for eye irritation and breathing difficulties.
One woman reportedly suffered head injuries requiring stitches after being assaulted.
Sofía, one of the women caught up in the confrontation, told local media: “As people were helping us pull them apart, one of the women pulled out the pepper spray and started spraying everyone.
“We all started coughing and our eyes began to sting, so we got out of the cinema and they stopped the film.”
She added: “You didn’t know whether to wash your face or leave it alone because our eyes were burning so much.”
Police responding to the incident intercepted a 51-year-old woman and her 27-year-old daughter in the shopping centre’s car park.
The pair, who were identified as being involved in the fight, were in a car with a man and appeared to be preparing to leave.
Police seized the pepper spray canister allegedly used in the incident, which contained 60 cubic centimetres of the substance.
Both women were taken to a local court detention facility, where they were placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities.
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