Irish streetfighter was in Turkey to rescue mother

The Irish-Kuwaiti man at the centre of a Turkish street fight video which went viral has broken his silence about the melee and revealed that he is in Turkey to help his mother escape from Syria.

Mohammed Fadel Dobbous told RTÉ Radio 1 he reached for a bottle of water in a streetside fridge in Istanbul, which sent more bottles spilling out. He went to apologise to the shopkeeper, but the fight was sparked.

“I went back to the shop and said: ‘I want to apologise or pay whatever the damage is,’ and the next thing he was out with a stick, and you know the rest,” he said.