THREE young men came to the aid of terrified pharmacy workers Monday, ejecting an agitated man who’d tried to force his way behind the counter.

The trio had been walking past Greg’s Discount Pharmacy on Fremantle’s High Street when they were told by worried shoppers an “unstable man” was inside, “screaming and swinging his arms and shouting obscenities”.

“The boys, about 20 years old, immediately said to each other ‘it’s time for us to go inside and help’,” says shopper Eileen English, who minutes earlier had seen the same man “violently beating on the driver’s window of a parked 4WD”, with the driver inside.

“I told them he could be violent,” Ms English says. “I heard display stands crashing to the floor, the unruly man yelling again, and a general scuffle. Next thing, the young kids had assisted the unruly man outside and around the corner.”

She says she and other shoppers then returned to the pharmacy, which they’d fled when the man had entered screaming abuse.

Ms English says staff told her the man had been “trying forcibly to enter behind the pharmacist’s counter, and they were trying to prevent that”.

They’d called Fremantle police for assistance but gave up after being “on hold for at least five minutes”.

Ms English says the agitated man was last seen sitting on the grass nearby, being talked to by a pair of men “with badges around their necks”.

“I would just like to thank the young boys who came to our assistance,” she says. “Without their willingness to go into the store and sort out the problem without any concern for their own safety, we ladies could have had something worse happen to us than just being shaken and concerned.”

by BRIAN MITCHELL