Footage of a wild brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, has gone viral across social media, prompting X users (formerly known as Twitter) to do what they do best: Memeify it.
The incident occurred on August 5 near Montgomery Riverfront Park and was captured by several witnesses before being broken up by Alabama police. What appeared to be an argument between a man, believed to be a riverboat employee, and two other men soon escalated. Many more people jumped in to seemingly defend the man.
In one piece of footage, one woman claimed: "These white people jumped this black security guard at the Riverfront. The staff got off the boat and it turned into WWE Smackdown. I’m so proud of Montgomery."
Another person shared a different angle of the brawl, writing: "I HATE when people jump people a majority of the time, & even more so when you want to fight or jump someone for doing their job. I applaud EVERYONE that helped that man out."
People were thrown into the water and folded chairs were smashed over people's heads – which led to the 'inventor' of the folding chair being the centre of memes across the net.
In 1911, Nathaniel Alexander patented a design of the chair for schools, churches and "in small towns when somebody tries you," one person jokingly quipped.
As the jokes rolled in, many users highlighted that the image "of Alexander" was in fact Lewis H Latimer, who invented many things including the light bulb filament.
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The Montgomery Police Department have since revealed in a statement that several people have been detained with charges pending.
Officials "acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job," Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement. "Warrants have been signed and justice will be served."
Reed continued: "This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system."
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