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Man stabbed in leg and eight arrested after fight in Selfridges in London

<span>Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA</span>
Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Eight people have been arrested after a brawl inside Selfridges in central London during which a man was stabbed in the leg.

Those arrested include the injured man, a 20-year-old who was treated in hospital after the clash on Saturday at the Oxford Street department store.

Video footage circulating on social media appeared to show a number of men facing off against each other inside Selfridges, including one who was carrying what appeared to be a knife or blade.

An appeal for witnesses was launched on Sunday by the Metropolitan police, which said officers were called to reports of a fight shortly after 7.30pm on Saturday.

The injured man was arrested on suspicion of affray after being treated, and was being held in custody. Seven other people were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and affray.

Those arrested – two men aged 20, four men aged 18, 21, 22 and 26, and a 20-year-old woman – remained in custody on Sunday.

The footage shows a confrontation between two groups as they moved through the clothing section of the store, with a rucksack being hurled at one point. A man can also be seen throwing a mannequin on to the floor before two others begin fighting with each other.

The incident comes at a time of renewed concerns about violence on the streets of London.

A teenager, 16, was treated for a stab injury after police were called to an incident in east London on Friday but died at the scene.

The Met said officers were called to Church Road in the Harold Wood area of Havering shortly after 6.40pm. Two injured teenagers were arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police were also called shortly afterwards to reports of another stabbing on nearby Retford Road.

A second boy aged 15 was found suffering from a stab wound and was taken to an east London hospital, where his condition was not life-threatening. He has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

In other fatalities this year, Abubakkar Jah, 18, was shot and stabbed to death two weeks ago in the middle of the afternoon near his Canning Town home.

Three days earlier, a third of a mile away, 14-year-old Fares Maatou was stabbed in a busy street outside a pizza restaurant.

Police on Sunday also named a man who was found stabbed to death on Thursday at a home in Putney, south west London, as Abdirizak Hassan.

The body of the 24-year-old was found at a property in Dowdeswell Close on 6 May by officers and paramedics who were called there shortly after 11am. A man, 33, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and bailed pending further inquiries.