A group of 30 men clash with kick-boxers As a plan, it probably seemed fairly sound. Gather a large bunch of blokes together - 30 or so - and attack a much smaller group. Just one problem: the individuals they attacked early on the morning of June 26 were heavyweight kick-boxing champions. The ensuing melee wound up around Lan Kwai Fong, turning the popular bar precinct - which was still busy with people watching the Turkey-Germany Euro 2008 semi-final - into a battle zone. There are reports that eight of the aggressors ended up in hospital and that the martial artists - who had been out celebrating a successful tournament - escaped relatively unscathed. Police have confirmed there was a report of fighting at 3.30am, but they have a record of only five men being involved, all of whom were arrested. Two of them required a hospital visit. Sources who were nearby when the violence erupted said it began near the corner of Wing Wah Lane and D'Aguilar Street, when about 20 to 25 young men approached about six others - the kick-boxers - and began jostling them. The fight grew from there and the kick-boxers fought their way free, knocking several of their attackers out cold, before running up the street and into a bar where the rest of their group were. 'There was a big fight and they were throwing bottles and attacking some guys; I think they were kick-boxers from the fight. A couple of the kick-boxers ran into one of the bars to take cover,' one witness said. 'It was crazy. I'm pretty sure the other guys were from a gang - it was scary, you know,' he said. As the reunited group of kick-boxers tried to leave the area, they were again set upon by an even larger group of young men. Stunned revellers who had headed out onto the street at half-time in the Euro match were ushered back into the bars as the street erupted in a hail of glasses and bottles, as the hugely outnumbered kick-boxers mounted an escape. Jamie Lee, who had arrived in Hong Kong from Manchester that night, was about to light a cigarette when he became aware of the fracas. 'I went outside for a fag, and I just saw all these glasses being hurled through the air. 'It seemed the aggressors - the guys at the top of the street - had the upper hand and the lads lower down the street just started running.' 'It was just like being back home. I really hadn't expected to see that sort of thing in Hong Kong.' Police Divisional Commander Simon Lee Wing-kong said there was no information about what had caused the fight. 'By the time the officers arrived, most of the people involved had managed to get away,' he said. 'It will take some time to investigate the real reasons behind what has occurred.' It had, he said, been classified a criminal matter and was being investigated further. However, possibly as a result of the typhoon warnings in place that evening, the incident had not been listed among the serious incident reports for that morning. Mr Lee said there had been no unusual increase in the level of violence in Lan Kwai Fong. Police figures actually show a decrease of 24 per cent in the number of violent incidents in the area in the first five months of the year.