About 3000 chanting students survived an attack by slingshot-wielding young men who pelted them with eggs and water balloons as they lined up for the annual Otago University Students' Association toga party last night.
The men left after unleashing their barrage, but not before one of them was tackled on Logan Park by university deputy proctor Andrew Ferguson.
The incident occurred early in what was a mostly incident-free start to the event, held at at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Police attended and removed the man.
OUSA president Laura Harris said there was "a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, and it was great to see all the freshers really engaging with this event''.
Of the egg-throwing, she said: "A couple of people are always going to play up, and it's a really unfortunate incident. The rest of them seem to be completely behaving.''