PARIS: A wave of panic sparked by evil clowns stalking French towns has spread to the south of France where police on Saturday night arrested 14 teenagers dressed as the pranksters, carrying pistols, knives and baseball bats.

A police source said the group of teens were arrested in the parking lot of a highschool in the port town of Agde, as several other complaints poured in over “armed clowns” in the region over the weekend.

In the Mediterranean city of Montpellier a man disguised as a clown was arrested after beating up a pedestrian with an iron bar, while three motorists in different towns complained about “scary clowns” threatening them.

The phenomenon of dressing up as an evil clown and terrifying passers-by — a trend which has also been seen in the United States and Britain — cropped up in the north of France in early October.

In the northern French town of Bethune, a fake clown last week received a six-month suspended jail term Monday for threatening passers-by while in full circus garb.

Using fake weapons these “clowns” have been “mostly spotted outside schools, but also on public roads, in bushes, in a square. Their targets are often young children or teenagers, but also adults,” a police source in northern France said.

Theories abound as to the origin of the trend in a country where American fear-fest Halloween has yet to take hold.