Police are hoping the drunken antics of 50 men in Santa Claus outfits at the weekend is not the start of a regular problem at this time of year.
The group, participating in this year's "Santarchy" - Santa anarchy - stole from shops, urinated in the streets and threw rocks
at buses in downtown Auckland on Saturday.
"It's just a pack of clowns, just a bunch of idiots getting together and taking the opportunity to be relatively anonymous by all wearing the same clothing, making it difficult to identify who's done what," said Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers.
He hoped the problems this year were a one-off event at a time when office and end-of-year parties already whet people's appetites for alcohol.
"We hope people go out and have a good time and behave in a civilised manner, but if people can't, police will deal with it appropriately."
Police arrested three men and will charge a fourth after the group hurled glass bottles at several security guards.
Two of the guards were treated for cuts to the head.
"We started getting phone calls from the public at 5.15pm. They were at Britomart, behaving loutishly, just being silly."
About 6pm the group, which had shrunk from 50 to about 20, made their way to Princes Wharf, where one adventurous Santa scaled the mooring rope of a cruise ship.
When he came back down, several security guards grabbed him, sparking the flurry of flying bottles.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett said he was disappointed that a stronger signal wasn't sent out about public disorder.
"It's a bit disappointing that the law is not being enforced that sends a strong signal to the rest of them and to anyone else who thinks this is humorous," he said.
"There's a group of people obviously organised and going into shopping areas and just intimidating shop owners and operators."
Alex Dyer, who organised the Santa spree, explained Saturday's antics as a group of men who liked having a drink and a laugh.
"It doesn't mean anything and it's not against anyone. It's just having fun. That's what life's about."
While Mr Dyer did not condone illegal behaviour, he washed his hands of any responsibility.
"I can't physically restrain people from doing stupid things. I can't say, 'Okay 50 drunk men, all listen to me: Please, nobody do anything stupid'.
"If someone does something stupid and gets caught for it, that's their problem."
He said Saturday was not an anti-commercialisation protest.
"People do Santarchy in other countries, sure, and for them maybe that's their aim, but with us we're just dressing up as Santa and getting drunk. We just like booze."
Mr Dyer said he had never been arrested, and he had never met the people who were arrested.
"I had a great time."
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