A 14-year-old dressed as a clown was arrested Monday near Paris for attempting to attack a woman as a strange phenomenon of fake, evil clowns terrorising passers-by spreads in France.
Another teenager in the southern city of Montpellier was sentenced to four months in prison for hitting a passer-by 30 times with an iron bar overnight Saturday. The teen was also kitted out as a clown.
Complaints have poured in recently over “armed clowns” wreaking havoc in various parts of the country — some carrying pistols, knives or baseball bats — and police have detained several people over the violent trend.
The phenomenon has even prompted anti-clown vigilantism, forcing police to step in to try and quell the hysteria by saying there have only been a few sightings of the grotesque pranksters.