A witness told the Rotorua Daily Post she was heading into town for an appointment when she saw a white van being smashed by four or five people, one of whom was wearing a Mongrel Mob jacket.
"As we pulled up, the men jumped in their ute and sped off. They had smashed in all the windows (of the van). The driver had a gash in his leg, blood coming out - a big Maori dude."
While on the phone to police, the witness said she and her husband carried on, only to see the same white van race past, with police close behind.
"It was as if the van was doing a runner. We didn't know where it was going."
She said she had never seen anything like that happen at that time of the morning.
"It was surreal, it was grossly violent."
Another witness told the Rotorua Daily Post she saw the start of the fight unfold when a white van cut in front of a blue ute.
"It (the white van) was so close to ramming me too. The ute beeped. This made the van slow right down to a complete stop."
She said two men got out of the van and went to each side of the ute.
"The driver of the van took his top off and they were stepping him (person in ute) out.
"I saw in my mirror people on the other side of the road had also stopped, and jumped out of their cars too ... so many people in the middle of the road."
She estimated there were about 12 people involved and there was a "massive build-up of traffic" as a result.
A worker in the area told the Rotorua Daily Post she heard "chaos outside", with glass being smashed and horns being tooted.
Police inquiries are ongoing and no arrests have been made at this stage.
