Residents scared as youths rampage in street

Residents were too scared to leave their homes as hundreds of youths spilled on to a Rotorua street, drinking, fighting, damaging property, throwing bottles and yelling.

The youths, who had been at a party in Alison St Saturday night until it was shut down, scattered on to the street, damaging property and causing mayhem in the area. Residents said they were too scared to venture outside.

One resident was yesterday doing repair work and cleaning up after the party-goers caused damage, threw bottles at his dog and left cans and broken glass in his driveway.

He wasn't home during the party but returned to find broken glass everywhere. He said he had spoken to some of the other residents who also had a mess to clean up.

A Rotorua woman told The Daily Post she was too scared to leave her home because the teenagers were all around her street and neighbouring properties, drinking alcohol and fighting.

She said the party started about 9pm with more than 300 teenagers attending. She said that by 10.30pm things had gotten out of control and she called police. It wasn't until the early hours of Sunday that everyone had left the area.

"A fight between two boys broke out. This then turned into 10 boys then 20, then 30 and then 100 or so kids were fighting in the street and chasing each other about 300m up the road," the woman said.

"Kids were jumping all over my section, all over the neighbour's section and there was no way we felt safe enough to ask them to leave."

Another Western Heights resident, who also didn't want to be identified, told The Daily Post when police arrived, partygoers ran off in groups of 50. She said it sounded like a stampede.

The woman said her 3-year-old was crying and telling her to lock the door so she was busy trying to calm her down.

She said some of the partygoers were yelling gang slogans and she could hear people encouraging others to throw bottles at the police when they arrived.

The police moved them on but many of the partygoers just hid and within half an hour, were back in the streets, the woman said.

Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Kirkby of the Rotorua police said yesterday he did not have any specific details of the incident but could confirm that police were called, attended and moved people on.