TWO men were stabbed in front of horrified families outside a busy shopping centre.

A fight broke out at 4.30pm yesterday near the front doors of JDSports at Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton.

Hundreds of people were in and around the centre concourse when two groups of men started brawling.

Two men were stabbed and police and paramedics were on the scene in minutes.

Officers arrested five men on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.

Paramedics, meanwhil,e tended to the two men who had suffered puncture wounds.

They were taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Police said the investigation is ongoing but a spokesman stressed the incident was not terror related.

Gaz Flynn, who took the front page photograph of the aftermath of the incident, had been shopping when he heard sirens.

He said: “Walking in to town I heard a lot of sirens about 50 metres from me.

“It was a very impressive police response.”

He said one of the victims did not appear to be too badly injured and was on his feet before being taken to hospital by ambulance.

Shopper Neil Kealey posted on Facebook: “There were loads of police and two ambulances and lots of rubber neckers.

“A young lad was receiving medical attention including an IV drip.”

Harriet Newman, 25, who was walking back from work, said: “People were terrified. With everything that is going on at the moment I think everyone was thinking the worst.

“You don’t expect to see things like that in the middle of the afternoon in Brighton.

“This is supposed to be a safe city but it certainly didn’t feel like it.

“To be the fair, the police were very quick and it sounds like they have arrested a few people.”

The incident comes just days after Sussex Police deployed armed officers to patrol public spaces such as the station and Churchill Square.

Armed police were outside the shopping centre at the weekend but it is not thought they were on patrol at the time of yesterday’s stabbings.

Miss Newman said: “After everything that happened at London Bridge your mind starts to race.

“I’m sure I wouldn’t have been the only one either. It was a scary few minutes that’s for sure.

“There were lots of families around and children in pushchairs as well as old people just going about their usual business. it all appeared to start from nowhere.

“You never really know what is going to happen.”

Argus readers reacted in horror online, with many initially fearing it could have been terror related.

Donna Fay James said: “Oh my goodness, my daughter’s infant school is around the corner. Not the kind of thing you want your five year-old to witness. Or anyone for that matter.”

Thomas Pick added: “With all that’s going on you’d think it would bring people closer and stop things like this.”

Neil White added: “I thought at first it was a performer as I only heard a loud noise as I came around the corner.

“This must have happened minutes after I went through. There were children, it was the middle of the day and in a busy high street location.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.