Booze-fuelled violence erupts in four centres

Liquor-fuelled violence erupted in four centres at the weekend.

In Hamilton, about 20 police were forced to retreat after up to 300 young men, most of them drunk, confronted officers as they tried to break up fights outside bars around 3am.

The other incidents were in Auckland, Tauranga and Alexandra.


Hamilton

Hamilton city area commander Inspector Paul Carpenter said it took more than 40 minutes and needed police dogs and pepper spray to restore order.

Ten people were arrested and more arrests could follow after police study footage from street surveillance cameras. Police would also investigate the involvement of some bars that served drunks.

"There would appear to be some fights that originated at a couple of licensed premises in particular. There are a couple of bars we will be focusing on."

Mr Carpenter urged the owners of bars and clubs to be more responsible.

"There were a large number of very aggressive and very drunk people out on the street either looking for a fight or spurring on others to start a fight."


Auckland

Stagecoach Auckland bus staff have security fears after a driver was beaten on Saturday night despite an alleged earlier warning to the company of a threat from abusive passengers.

The driver is understood to have been punched in the mouth by one of a group of four men on a trip from central Auckland to Orakei about 11pm, and went to hospital for observation.

The company is expected to start an investigation today.

Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt expressed disappointment last night that a security firm contracted to Stagecoach was not sent to interview another bus driver who reported being accosted by what appeared to be the same group about two hours earlier.

The other driver said he was abused by "four drunken guys" who hopped on his bus at a downtown stop and refused to pay fares, claiming they had lost a group pass bought in the morning.


Tauranga

People with "more booze, more drugs and more lack of respect for authority" have changed the way police respond to callouts, says a senior Tauranga officer.

Violent attacks have always been an occupational hazard for frontline staff but "it seems to be happening a lot more lately, where police are being assaulted", Senior Sergeant Darryl Brazier said yesterday.

As a result police, sick of being used as "punchbags", routinely expect to be faced with violent offenders who "don't care what they say and do to police", he said.

Mr Brazier's comments came after an assault on a female Mt Maunganui officer attending a domestic dispute early on Saturday.

The officer, in her mid-20s, was kicked and punched by a 23-year-old man alleged to have been threatening to kill his partner. She was saved by her male colleague and others at the address.


Alexandra

Rocks were thrown at police officers and a trail of destruction left along Alexandra's main street after a birthday party was shut down on Saturday night.

The party at Alexandra's Ice Inline skate rink clubrooms, was forced to close at 11pm after reports the teenagers were trashing the building.

Senior Constable Mike Colligan said the party was organised by an 18-year-old local man who was taken away in an ambulance after being so intoxicated he was unable to be woken.

Mr Colligan said one 14-year-old girl was so drunk she could not stand up.

The committee hiring the building to the birthday boy was told there would be bouncers on the door and adult supervision but police arrived to find about 90 drunken teenagers out of control.

"It was a free-for-all ... there were drunken idiots everywhere. It was a bloody mess," Mr Colligan said.

Life membership photographs were ripped off the walls and broken, holes punched in the walls, beer and tomato sauce sprayed around the room, and a fire extinguisher and phone were later found broken on the nearby State highway.

"Basically anything that could be broken was."

Mr Colligan said that after the police closed the party some of the teenagers threw rocks at police cars before heading into the central business district, vandalising property as they went.

Four officers attended the incident with back-up from the booze bus, which was in town for the weekend.

Only one 22-year-old male was arrested after throwing a bottle through a window of a car, because the number of people involved made it difficult to prove who was responsible, he said.

Officers were still herding the teenagers off the main street seven hours later, at 6am.

Ice Inline committee secretary Dianne Elliot cried when she arrived at the clubrooms and saw the mess. "It's just mindless."

- STAFF REPORTERS, NZPA, OTAGO DAILY TIMES