Berlin police post creepy pictures to warn about creepy clowns
After spreading to the US, UK and Australia, the clown craze has now reached Germany, just in time for Halloween.
There have been episodes involving clowns in Berlin, Rostock, Greifswald and Wesel.
Local police have taken a distinctive approach to dealing with the incidents.
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Authorities in Berlin have posted images of creepy clowns on their official Facebook and Twitter accounts with the caption "Pranks have consequences" and "The party is over".
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The first image features a a grinning white-faced clown with the stars and stripes of the American flag over his forehead, a possible reference to where the craze started.
The other image shows a ghost-faced clown with bloody red eyes.
"We understand fun - but not every type is fun," Berlin police said in a Facebook statement entitled "Not funny at all". "Online pranks are part of our everyday lives and many of them are really funny and make us laugh, too. Many, but not all."
It comes after a knife attack in Berlin involving two teenagers. A 14-year-old stabbed a 16 year old who was wearing a clown mask and scaring a group of people with a hammer in his hand.
In another incident in Berlin, two masked men tried to rob a 25-year-old in the neighbourhood of Schonenberg.
In Wesel, a chainsaw-wielding clown terrified a woman and in Rostock a 15-year-old was chased by another masked figure.
"I'm afraid that the ugly trend of clown attacks will spread in the big cities over Halloween," the head of Germany's main police union, Rainer Wendt, said. "The clowns are not only idiots but criminals. To scare someone in such a disgusting way constitutes an assault."
People have been commenting on the Berlin police Facebook post as the creepy clown craze appears to spread across the country:
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