Cruise Passengers Arrested for Beating Up Robbers

Two cruise ship passengers from the Norwegian Breakaway have been arrested in Bermuda after a violent altercation that the authorities described as a failed robbery. Police claim that at 0300 hours on Friday, three passengers encountered two local teenagers in the Royal Navy Dockyard, a former shipyard that now serves as a cruise terminal and shopping mall. In an incident that centered "around the theft of jewelry," two of these passengers severely beat the alleged robbers, who had to be taken to the hospital for injuries to the face and the head. 

The incident was captured on video and circulated on social media, and a police spokesperson told local Ber News that the footage will play a role in the investigation. The video is graphic, and it appears to show a female tourist repeatedly hitting a man in the head while another man holds him down. Later segments show the alleged robbers waiting for medical attention. 

The alleged perpetrators, a 23-year-old male and a 26-year-old female, were identified by family as a brother and sister from Brooklyn, New York. "[My sister and brother] were the victims! Now they are under arrest in Bermuda because they were being robbed & fought back," wrote their sister in a Facebook post Sunday. "[Their father] & I are returning to Bermuda tomorrow; because they were released into lawyer's custody but their passports are still confiscated. They go before a magistrate Tuesday 9/4."

Many social media users – including Bermudans – applauded the two tourists for standing up to robbers, and most suggested that charges should be filed against the teenagers instead. A campaign to free the two passengers is circulating under the hashtag #freethetourists.