Clowns Are Terrorizing France

[Cyrillic]

Since mid-October, police in towns across France have been warning about an unlikely threat: clowns. The recent arrest of 14 teenagers in Agde, in the south of the country, for harassing passersby while dressed as clowns is just one instance of this nationwide bout of circus-costumed criminality, which has spread from where it originated in the country's north.

While similar cases of clown-related aggression (carried out by what professional clowns in France insist are not real clowns) have also occurred in the U.S., England, and most recently Spain, the situation in France has led one French town to ban clown costumes altogether, not just for Halloween but for the entire month of November. And though many of France's evil clowns have been teenaged pranksters, their weapons⎯including baseball bats, knives, axes, pistols, and chainsaws⎯are often quite real. On Monday, a student in Besançon, in eastern France, cut his hand while apparently raising it to defend himself from an axe-wielding clown impostor. Other incidents have involved direct assault: In Montpellier, a clown and two accomplices beat a 35-year-old man with an iron bar in an attempted robbery. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/clown-killer-quest-ce-que-cest/382092/

And a video

Who can you trust if not clowns?

 

[hecma925]

Silly Europeans.  They should take that prank to Texas.

 

[homedad76]

Who can you trust if not clowns?

Uh pretty much ANYONE else.

 

[Philipa]

I always hated clowns. As a child, when I went to the circus with my mother I would hide my face in her skirts when the clowns made their act. And if one dared approach me I would yell like hell.

 

[Cyrillic]

Silly Europeans.  They should take that prank to Texas.

The result would probably be a lot of dead clowns. It would be hard to explain to your children why you shot a clown, though.

 

[Alpo]

Too bad. I thought this thread was about Hollande and his minions.

 

[Iconodule]

You know, if you're really scared of clowns, okay, I get it, I can see how they can be seen as creepy in certain contexts. But I've been hearing this "Clowns are terrifying" thing from so many people for so many years that I simply don't believe it with most people. If they really meant it, the clown industry would be gone. I think it started out as a funny thing to say and quickly morphed into a reflexive statement that people just make for lack of having anything else to say. I seriously doubt most of those people are really scared of clowns. It's old, folks. Find some other ostensibly innocent thing to pretend to be scared of.

Chickadees, man. They creep me out.

 

[Alpo]

That bird sure has some Immortal-ish characteristics.

No wonder you're terrified.

 

[Paisius]

You want to know something scary? Pigeons. Pigeons creep me out. The weird, jerky movement. Eyes that never close. No thank you.........

 

[Iconodule]

That bird sure has some Immortal-ish characteristics.

No wonder you're terrified.

Wow, I never made the chickadee- Immortal connection. It's so obvious now. This explains everything. You're a genius.

 

[RJB]

The really terrifying reality is that anyone posting on this forum could be sitting at the keyboard dressed as a clown right now, and we'd never know it!!! 

 

[DeniseDenise]

There are also clowns terrorizing a central California town


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/police-arrest-one-20-clowns-terrorizing-county-california/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/13/california-town-clown-sighting-fuels-copy-cat-pranksters/

 

[Cyrillic]

There are also clowns terrorizing a central California town


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/police-arrest-one-20-clowns-terrorizing-county-california/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/13/california-town-clown-sighting-fuels-copy-cat-pranksters/

On Thursday, a 14-year-old boy dressed as a clown was arrested for scaring a neighborhood child on Thursday night. The teenager was charged with annoying a minor. The disturbance was one of 20 reports from Kern County in the last week of clowns terrifying children.

Wait, what? Is that a felony?

 

[DeniseDenise]

probably just a misdemeanor 

 

[Cyrillic]

probably just a misdemeanor   

A minor annoying another minor is a misdemeanor? Now that's messed up.

 

[DeniseDenise]

probably just a misdemeanor   

A minor annoying another minor is a misdemeanor? Now that's messed up.

well i know some of the incidents involved baseball bats and machetes.....so I can't talk to the specific arrest...but maybe its more complex then that.

 

[hecma925]

Silly Europeans.  They should take that prank to Texas.

The result would probably be a lot of dead clowns. It would be hard to explain to your children why you shot a clown, though.

Not in America.  The majority of people have hated (maybe not necessarily feared) clowns for well over 30 years.  Think Poltergeist or It.

American kids usually demand for a clown to die.  No harm, no foul.

 

[TheTrisagion]

probably just a misdemeanor  

A minor annoying another minor is a misdemeanor? Now that's messed up.

I would guess it is a statutory offense. Kind of like a speeding ticket or a disturbing the peace type thing.  The parents pay $100 and everyone goes on the merry way.  It is an income generator for police depts.

EDIT: I take it back. It might be a misdemeanor because it sounds like he could be charged with brandishing a deadly weapon. It depends a lot on the circumstances. Unless you are in Texas or Florida, most places frown on you waving firearms at people in an attempt to intimidate them. Texas and Florida, you are expected to just shoot them before they pull their gun on you or before you think they might own a gun, or before you think they might think about owning a gun. 

 

[Cyrillic]

American kids usually demand for a clown to die.  No harm, no foul.

That would make for an interesting sweet 16 party. "Mommy, I want to see clowns die!"

 

[TheTrisagion]

American kids usually demand for a clown to die.  No harm, no foul.

That would make for an interesting sweet 16 party. "Mommy, I want to see clowns die!"

Are you saying you Dutch do NOT kill clowns for sport?!?!  What sort of primitive culture are you?