Putting on airs . . . and guns?

I always figured gunfire was a means of (absolutely) last resort to solve a (usually criminal) problem . . . but it seems that two Spanish gypsy clans aren't as abstemious.

A gun battle broke out between feuding neighbours in southern Spain after one broke wind within earshot of another.

The fracas erupted between gypsy clans in eastern Spain when a member of one family let rip while walking past a young man from the rival family shortly before midnight on Sunday, local newspaper Diario Informacion reported.

The young man returned the insult in the same way; by farting in his direction.

The situation quickly escalated with a wife of one the men joining the fray claiming she was insulted, and then the other man’s wife also getting involved, until guns were pulled and shots fired.

. . .

The neighbourhood is home to a large number of gitano families and the two clans involved in the scrap have been sworn enemies for decades, local media reported.

There's more at the link.

Seems rather daft to me, but I understand such feuds in the Spanish Romani community are a bit like the Hatfields versus the McCoys in Appalachia . . . they go on forever.  (I'm reliably informed that the latter feud, although officially over for decades, has been known to resurface now and again.)  However, notwithstanding historical antagonism, I've seldom heard of a more stupid reason for a gunfight!


Peter