AN encounter between two sets of friends in Dublin’s Talbot street resulted in a violent and frightening brawl in broad daylight.

Passersby ran for cover as an approach by one man to two others led to an unmerciful beating outside O’Shea’s hotel on the corner of Gardiner Street.

When his friend intervened to help, he was then set upon by the two men, dressed for summer in shorts and singlets.

One man, in a red hoodie, was left clutching his head in a foetal position on the footpath after receiving a number of kicks.

As the two men walked away, his friend threw a bag of crisps after them in a futile gesture but then decided to follow them with an umbrella, as they crossed the traffic intersection and continued on up Talbot Street.

If he caught up what happened next is not recorded in the video uploaded to YouTube and Facebook last night.