Hamilton police are recovering from a night of mayhem after donning riot gear and forming skirmish lines to quell an out-of-control party - and breaking up a separate fight three houses down.
Six people were arrested after officers were pelted with glass bottles as they tried to break up the
fracas in Ford St in the suburb of Claudelands about 1am on Sunday.
Senior Sergeant Greg Dunn said police were attacked by several of about 80 partygoers - aged in their late teens to their 30s - at the property.
After officers had broken up the brawl, they were called to a different incident in the street involving the tenants of a house - both male and female - who were fighting about who was responsible for a burglary there. Police broke up the fight, making no arrests.
As they were dealing with that, the party flared up again and staff were called back, this time donning shields and helmets.
They had to call for backup and form skirmish lines to clear the street.
Mr Dunn said about 25 officers were involved in an incident that could easily have been avoided. "If you're going to have a party, take some host responsibility, have food and safe drivers on hand and if your mates are getting out of control, look after them."
No bottles were thrown the second time but police received several 111 calls from neighbours about fighting in the street.
Nobody was seriously hurt but those arrested were sporting "bumps and bruises".
"When it gets to the point of police having to be called in,"Mr Dunn said, "we have a very clear zero-tolerance approach and there are very serious consequences for all involved."
The party was broken up about 2am.
