Birmingham club night halted by fight as footage shows 'sloppy' punch-up

A Birmingham student has spoken of her shock at watching a fight unfold in the middle of a busy city dancefloor. The 21-year-old Aston University student, who regularly goes on nights out in the city, said a dancefloor punch up at Lab11 in Digbeth left her and her female friends feeling "scared."

The fight took place at a rave event hosted at Lab11, and promoted by Desi Fever, on Friday January 24. Describing the video, which has been circulated on social media platform TikTok, the student said: "They are not intentionally hitting each other, it was quite sloppy. All the girls were so scared. Nothing was done about this for ages."

The footage shows the dancefloor brought to a standstill and cleared out, while men try, and mostly fail, to land punches on each other. Eventually security staff in high-vis clothing step in to break up the melee. BirminghamLive has contacted Lab11 and promoters Desi Fever for a comment.

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The female student, who wished to remain anonymous, said she regularly attends events at the Trent Street venue but this incident left her feeling reluctant to return. As a regular clubber at Lab 11 she added that previously security has acted swiftly, but felt that they were slow to sort the scenes out on Friday January 24.

A Birmingham student has spoken of her shock at watching a fight unfold in the middle of a busy Friday club night event. Pictured: The scenes at Lab11
A Birmingham student has spoken of her shock at watching a fight unfold in the middle of a busy Friday club night event. Pictured: The scenes at Lab11

The safety of women at events is a significant concern for many students in the city, which the student we spoke to shared with us. She said: "Me and my friends turned around there was this craziness, my friend got charged into by a guy. When she turned around there was a bunch of guys fighting.

"My friend said run for safety." The third-year student said she came to Birmingham to enjoy its nightlife and over the last year got into attending Desi events alongside other events like drum and bass nights.

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"I am from an Indian family and I showed my parents the video, they said if you want to go out and enjoy these nights you should tell someone. It is not safe."

On why she has been going to more Desi events, she said: "We thought it would be a vibe to see more people that look like us. If it continues like this one of us will end up beaten up. It puts a sour taste in your mouth."

BirminghamLive put safety concerns to Lab11 and Desi Fever by phone and in writing on Wednesday January 29. At the time of writing we had not heard back from the club or promoter.