A group of shoppers in Australia fought over toilet paper amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Police were called to the scene of a Woolworths supermarket in Sydney after a group of women began fighting over a pack of toilet paper. One woman can be seen pulling the hair of another, and several punches were thrown.
“I just want one packet,” the woman yells to two other women with a full cart of toilet paper. “No, not one packet,” the woman holding the cart responds. No arrests were reportedly made, and grocery store employees intervened to end the quarrel.
#BREAKING: A scuffle broke out at a Woolworths in Chullora this morning with patrons coming to blows over toilet paper, forcing employees to intervene. Bankstown police attended the scene and no charges have been laid. #9News pic.twitter.com/9TmDAStb9D
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) March 7, 2020
“We just ask that people don’t panic like this when they go out shopping. There is no need for it. It isn’t the Thunderdome, it isn’t Mad Max, we don’t need to do that,” said Andrew New, an acting police inspector in New South Wales, told the Guardian. “Violence of this nature will not be tolerated, and anyone involved in this behavior may be committing an offense and find themselves before the court. There is no need for people to go out and panic buy at supermarkets, paracetamol and canned food or toilet paper.”
The supermarket chain in Australia began rationing toilet paper as panicked customers reportedly began to buy massive amounts of toiletries in fear of the coronavirus.
There have been over 100,000 global cases of COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization, killing 3,405. In the United States thus far, 126 cases have been confirmed. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that at least 10 people have died nationwide.
