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A 14-strong gang of pranksters parading as armed, sinister clowns have been arrested in southern France for threatening people with knives and guns.



The disguised mob were seemingly taking part in the 'evil clown' craze seen both in the US and in Britain.



The group were arrested last night in a school car park in the Mediterranean resort of Agde, with police claiming that they had been 'laughing manically' while chasing locals with weapons.

A French national police spokesman said: "Since mid-October, a rumour inspired by videos published on the Internet has created the presence of threatening and aggressive clowns in France.

"Symptomatic of the impact of the Internet, this phenomenon can lead to damaging individual acts and disturbances to public order."

The arrests come after a man dressed as a clown was caught in Montpellier last week, attacking a pedestrian with an iron bar.

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The menacing phenomenon is thought to have been inspired by both a viral YouTube video showing a terrifying clown scaring people, and a recent episode of US TV series American Horror Story featuring Twisty the killer clown.



In the northern French town of Bethune, a fake clown also received a six-month suspended jail term last week for threatening passers-by.

London's Metropolitan Police has been dealing with 117 clown-related incidents in 2013 across the capital alone.

In Portsmouth, a masked figure lurking in the streets began stroking passers-by with a single red-gloved finger this month.

Police in America have made dozens of arrests in recent weeks, with the terrifying trend most prominent in California.