Men held over tramp violence video

Producers say the video has sold 300,000 copies

Two men suspected of making a controversial reality TV-style video that features homeless people fighting each other for money have been arrested.

Police in San Diego, California, arrested Zachary Bubeck, 24, and Ryan Edward McPherson, 19, after a three-month investigation into the Bumfights video.

Participants fought in return for cash, food and alcohol, police said

Bumfights shows tramps having fist-fights and running head-first into steel doors as well as footage of other street punch-ups.

It was billed as "hilariously shocking" by its producers, but condemned as exploitative and cruel by homeless charities.

Mr Bubeck and Mr McPherson, both from Las Vegas, have been charged with conspiracy, solicitation of a felony crime and illegally paying people to fight.

According to police, the video's producers encouraged homeless people to fight on camera in return for cash, food and alcohol - but warned them not to tell the authorities about the payment.

Police are still looking for two more Las Vegas residents, they said.

"Rufus the Stunt Bum" is one of the stars of the show

Producers say more than 300,000 copies of Bumfights Volume 1 - A Cause For Concern have been sold over the internet.

Shot with a hand-held camera, the video shows clips including a man in a dark alley smacking himself in the head after realising his hair is on fire.

Others are filmed pulling their teeth out with pliers.

One of the "stars" of the video, called "Rufus the Stunt Bum", repeatedly rams his head into a wall, rides a shopping trolley down a steep incline and spray-paints the bedding of other homeless men.

The makers have claimed that the violence only depicts the true hardships the homeless face.

But Donald Whitehead, from the US National Coalition for the Homeless, said: "It's clearly exploitative. It's clearly cruel.

"People are being forced to do things under various conditions of substance abuse and mental illness."

Mr Bubeck and Mr McPherson are due to appear in court on 10 October for a preliminary hearing.