Authorities urge violence-free night in Auckland, New Year’s events cancelled elsewhere

An Auckland councillor is urging calm as revellers prepare to ring in the 2026 new year. Photo / Richard Brimer

By Kim Baker Wilson of RNZ

An Auckland councillor is urging calm on the city’s streets as well as in homes on Wednesday evening as revellers prepare to ring in the 2026 new year.

It comes after two straight nights of violence in the city involving group brawls.

Three people were put in hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning from three separate assaults around the central city.

There was mass disorder on the Karangahape Rd night strip and an estimated crowd of more than 50 people.

Police have made a fresh appeal for help from the public and any footage.

But violence came again that night, again involving a group of people, this time in the South Auckland suburb of Wiri.

Police were called to Wallson Crescent to reports of several people fighting.

Before Wednesday night, police told RNZ that New Year’s Eve was a big night for officers across the country.

In Auckland, huge crowds will flood the central city around the Sky Tower and around the Viaduct to see the fireworks set off at midnight.

The five-minute display will have 3500 fireworks – or 500kg – launched from levels 55, 61 and 64 up to 240m above the ground.

There were 14km of cables and wires to make it happen.

“A significant amount of planning goes into deployment of officers to areas where we’re likely to see large numbers gathering and celebrating,” a spokesperson said.

“And this, of course, includes the Auckland CBD and K Rd area.”

Police said they would have sufficient resources to respond to any issues, but were urging everyone heading out to do so safely.

“Nobody wants to wake up in a hospital or a police cell on New Year’s Day,” police told RNZ.

Alf Filipaina, an Auckland councillor for the Manukau Ward, also pressed for people to be safe and keep the night free of violence.

“There are a lot of ways of getting rid of any stress that builds up during your party that you’re having, and violence is not one of them,” he said.

“Violence has no place at a family function or with friends, and even if you go out with friends and family to a bar, to a nightclub, the same thing, violence has no place anywhere around New Year and it has no place anywhere during the year,” he told RNZ.

“May 2026 bring what you want with you, and your family and friends,” Filipaina said.

Eagle helicopter redeployed to planned boy racer gatherings

Police's Eagle helicopter. Photo / Dean Purcell

Police said they had a clear message for Gisborne and the wider Eastern District – reckless and anti-social behaviour on the roads would not be tolerated.

They said they were aware of planned group gatherings.

“We won’t stand for it,” Eastern District Commander Superintendent Jeanette Park said.

Police had sent the Auckland-based Eagle helicopter to give aerial support and rapid responses across the region.

“Anyone intending to cause disruption or operate a vehicle in a dangerous or unsafe manner can expect a stern response from Police who have zero tolerance for dangerous driving,” Police said.

They also cautioned that watching unlawful street racing only encouraged those doing it.

“It is also incredibly dangerous,” Park said.

Strong police presence in Hawke’s Bay

Police said they will have a strong presence in the traditional holiday hotspots across Hawke’s Bay, including beaches, after the big day.

“We all have a responsibility to ensure our friends and loved ones are safe this summer, so keep an eye out and report any concerns you have,” Area Commander Inspector Lincoln Sycamore said.

He said police would also be targeting unsafe drivers.

“Alcohol continues to be a factor in a number of crashes across the region, and we will continue to set up checkpoints and breath test drivers,” he said.

Sycamore also warned that police beat teams will be doing routine patrols in retail areas “right into the New Year”.

St John’s busiest night of the year

Tonight is the busiest night of the year for ambulance crews who at the same time have been grappling with increasing violence, aggression, threats, abuse and physical harm.

St John recently told RNZ that it was completely unacceptable.

Its vehicles had also been damaged.

“We empower our staff, if they feel unsafe, to leave the scene and get away from the scene,” St John general manager for ambulance operations Stu Cockburn said.

“They’re just there to help people at their time of need and certainly the last thing they need is to be verbally or physically abused.”

Last New Year’s Eve, St John responded to 570 incidents between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

Demand for ambulance services was already going up each year, and call-outs on Wednesday night would come off the back of St John crews having their busiest ever winter.

Trust urges safe New Year

Walk Without Fear Trust, established after the death of MMA fighter Liufau Vake after an unprovoked attack outside an Auckland bar, urged people to look after each other.

“If things start to get heated, pull your mates back. De-escalate. Walk away,” chairperson Eugene Bareman said.

He said celebrations too often ended in preventable tragedy, fuelled by alcohol.

“One reckless moment can change lives forever. There’s no honour in violence, and no excuse for a street violence. Make it uncool. You’re not ‘the man’ if you’re brawling drunk on the street,” he said.

Bareman said the Trust wanted 2026 to start “the right way”.

“No families grieving. No lives lost. Just people making it home to the ones who love them,” he said.

Weather scuppers New Year events

Festival goers at Rhythm and Vines are off to a soggy start after the region was wiped with heavy rain. Photo / Rhythm and Vines

In Tauranga, forecast bad weather has led the council to cancel community celebrations in Matua, Pāpāmoa, Mount Maunganui, Greerton and central Tauranga.

“I know this will disappoint many families, children, and the council staff and volunteers who have been working hard to make it happen,” Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford said on Facebook.

“It’s never an easy call, but public safety must always come first, and this is absolutely the right decision given the conditions,” he said.

Tauranga City Council was still hoping to set off fireworks at 9.30pm and midnight if the weather was good enough.

If it was, there would be five fireworks displays at Mount Maunganui, Pāpāmoa, Matua, the city centre and the Waimapu Estuary harbour area.

“This means you can enjoy the spectacular from where you’re already celebrating or from a safe elevated vantage point,” it said.

Celebrations in Te Marae o Hine – The Square in Palmerston North had also been called off because of severe winds.

It included all entertainment and two fireworks displays.

“We are really sorry to have to make this call, especially knowing how many people were looking forward to celebrating together,” Palmerston North City Council said.

“While this is not how we hoped to welcome in the New Year, the safety of our community, performers, crew and everyone involved has to come first.”

The forecast – rain, thunderstorms and warnings

“I think maybe it’s best to kind of split the North Island and South Island up,” MetService meteorologist Alanna Burrows told RNZ.

“So really the North Island is looking like a showery day for a lot of areas, it could be a bit cloudy to start with for kind of the Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa regions but that will break up, and we have got showers for a lot of regions,” she said.

“It’s quite active and mobile and we do actually have a moderate thunderstorm risk for quite a large area of the North Island.”

Burrows said that could mean heavy rain and strong gusts of up to 80km/h.

“So that moderate risk area is kind of stretching down from Northland, Auckland all the way through Waikato, Waitomo, west of Taupō down to kind of Wellington, Wairarapa.”

There was good news in store for sodden festival-goers at a muddy Rhythm and Vines.

“The wind is kind of changing to a north-westerly direction for the North Island, so we are going to see some sheltering for like Wairoa, Gisborne through the afternoon so they will probably escape the showers and it’s kind of looking like mainly fine for them, perhaps the chance of a shower but they’re not in that thunderstorm risk area, so that is quite a good place to be,” Burrows said.

Showers would eventually ease for some of the southern North Island.

“So if you drew a line kind of from Whanganui across to Hawke’s Bay, south of that, you will start to see them clearing in the evening.”

But the top of the South Island was different again.

“It’s quite a wet day for Nelson and Marlborough with periods of rain and we do have a heavy rain warning out and a heavy rain watch,” Burrows said.

The orange warning stretched from 6am Wednesday to 6am on New Year’s Day.

“But that is kind of like a story of two halves, so the east of the South Island, that’s kind of where we’re going to see most of our rain and cloudy conditions and the western side is going to be a bit nicer to start with, but that kind of flips through the afternoon so then we get rain developing in the west and actually clearer spells in the east,” she said.

“So it’s going to become drier through the afternoon for Christchurch and Dunedin.”

- RNZ