Residents have been filmed being threatened with HAMMERS as they desperately try to protect their cars from masked attackers.
The shocking footage has racked up hundreds of thousands of views online, with one victim appearing to be struck with a hammer while filming the chaos.
The incident happened during the night of 17 October, when a family was celebrating a christening at a function hall in Douai, France.
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The video shows hooded and masked individuals climbing onto the roofs of vehicles and threatening residents as they try to defend their property.
“Watch out, they’ve got hammers!” one person shouts, while another cries: “My car!”
Around a minute into the footage, one of the masked individuals approaches the person filming and appears to hit them with a hammer.
Four complaints have since been filed, and prosecutors have opened an investigation into aggravated violence, attempted arson and theft.
Police are examining the footage in an attempt to identify those responsible, as reported by Need To Know.
Douai mayor Frédéric Chéreau visited the scene on the night of the incident.
He said groups had started fresh bin fires and set off fireworks between midnight and 1am in the area between Place de l’Europe and Quai Devigne.
The groups also targeted a family celebrating a christening at the Péchenart hall, he said.
Material damage was limited to several vehicles and a washbasin inside the hall.
The mayor added: “I offer my sympathy to the family who were there, several members of whom were targeted.”
The footage was also shared by Marion Maréchal, president of the far-right Identité-Libertés party, who wrote: “This is not an episode of ‘The Purge’. This is what the French are experiencing, abandoned to barbarians.”
The incident comes amid ongoing unrest in France, where riots and nights of street violence have seen fires, fireworks and clashes with police in a number of areas.
The circumstances surrounding the Douai attack remain under investigation, and police have yet to publicly identify the alleged attackers.
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