Monkeys are rampaging through a city in Thailand - overrunning the streets, climbing on cars and stealing from people.
The primates roam freely through Lopburi, where there are an estimated 6,000 of them in a population of just 70,000 people.
Hundreds of tourists used to visit the area every day to feed the monkeys but the Covid-19 coronavirus travel ban introduced in March has stopped their source of food.
Following the drop in visitors, footage emerged showing the primates getting into a mass brawl over bananas after the supply dwindles.
Since then, they have been given sugary snacks and junk food by locals but the diet has made them breed faster and many have become violent.
Video from June 26 shows the animals attacking locals, stealing a boy's face mask, grabbing food from passing cars, fighting and invading a local shop.
The fearless species rules the streets around the Prang Sam Yod temple in the centre of Lopburi, patrolling the tops of walls and brazenly ripping the rubber seals from car doors.
Officials are now struggling to cope with the soaring monkey population and have started mass sterilisation projects.
Lopburi's authorities have begun catching, sedating and sterilising what is hoped will be 500 of the monkeys in the hope of slowing the growth of the population.
Supakarn Kaewchot, a government veterinarian, said: ''They're so used to having tourists feed them and the city provides no space for them to fend for themselves.
'With the tourists gone, they've been more aggressive, fighting humans for food to survive.
They're invading buildings and forcing locals to flee their homes.'' The animals were reported to be part of two 'rival gangs' made up of the monkeys who dwell in the city and those from the temple areas who were fighting over food.
Those living in the temple areas reportedly ventured into the city in the search of food, leading to the fight.
