Click photo to enlarge
Police face off against the crowd in Castle St. Photo by
Craig Baxter
Police ran out of pepper spray trying to subdue a drunken
mob on a second night of disorder in Dunedin following the
arrival of the annual Undie 500 car rally in the city on
Friday.
Again facing off against a mob of about 600 people in North
Dunedin's Castle St area, police in riot gear used pepper
spray to subdue and disperse the hordes. Students again lit
fires and pelted police with bottles.
The crowd advanced on officers, "challenging the police
line", after police officers tried to grab a man, Inspector
Dave Campbell said.
"Many students were pepper sprayed and officers had to call
for more supplies as some had emptied their canisters on
those students," Mr Campbell said.
Police arrested between 50 and 60 people. This follows the 20
arrests made on Friday night. The weekend's violence and
disorder saw the highest number of arrests in recent years.
The annual Undie 500 event, organised by Canterbury
University engineering students, involves a pub crawl from
Christchurch to Dunedin, in cars worth under $500.
The event has previously caused headaches for Dunedin police
left to control riotous behaviour at the end of the trip.
Last year's official Undie 500 was cancelled after rioting in
the city resulted in 69 arrests the previous year.
However, an unofficial version of the event still ran and 30
arrests were made after another round of disorder.
Those arrested would be charged with breaching the temporary
liquor ban, disorderly behaviour, obstruction and wilfully
setting fire to property, and would appear in Dunedin
District Court at the end of the week, Mr Campbell said.
Despite promises of better behaviour from students, "nothing
has changed".
"The event has once again shown that when large numbers of
young adults gather and drink to excess mass disorder is
inevitable."
Good on you Police
Why won't the University of Otago and Canterbury own up to the fact that it is the majority is their students, and stop blaming everyone else. The police do a great job with what resources they have. It is a shame they can't block the entire area and charge them all. Ban the Undie 500. I am sick and tired of the students trying to pass the blame onto someone else. Grow up. Well said Shano (above).
Ode to a wee mouse
With apologies to Robbie Burns and Ode to a Mouse after Otago not getting the Ranfurly Shield......a bit of doggerel for our southern cousins!
Poor wee timid cowerin' beastie
Thy timorous heart beats in thine breastie
Thou knowest that the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley
And lea' us nought but dread and pain in place of promised joy
Thou knowest this is this and that is that
But knowest thou this.......
Dinna tangle with the Canterbury Cat!
If it's any consolation Chch is saving up for its own Robbie Burns statue....don't forget the first 3 families in Canerbury were Scots, and one of their descendents should be where Mr G. Henry is. Your thoughts Hayden Meikle?
Undie riots
Firstly I would like to congratulate the Dunedin police for their awesome approach in dealing with this year's mayhem. You definitely succeeded this year in minimising the conflict. But in response to SHano's assertion above; that it is the University of Otago that has failed and should be held responsible I shake my head. How is the Uni supposed to control the behaviour of some 20,000 students? The people on the streets intended to riot, they knew the consequences and were thrilled by the risks.
The University is no more responsible than the students parents, our or society with its favouring of young "scarfies". The students were rebelling against authority, tougher rules against our freedoms would only have given the cause some legitimacy in the minds of the students. Blame the deviants who threw the bottles not the instution that enriches our country and represents a student body far greater than the number who turned up to riot.
police tactics questionable
Myself and a couple of flatmates went to see what all the fuss was about last night. Had an interesting conversation with Campus Watch, who couldn't understand why the police would not let anyone leave Castle Street... We headed to Howe Street, where we were told by police that once we moved through their "blockade" we would not be allowed out of the area. Where is the logic in this? These were the same police officers who ignored people throwing bottles through the windows of flats. One really has to question the wisdom of the police, who rather than let the crowd disperse freely, following the closure of Gardies, contained the crowd on Castle Street. Of course you are going to run into trouble when you prevent people from going to town/home etc...
Castle St cops run out of pepper spray
This is a total shame for the city, the univeristy and University of Otago students in general. Cops: Stick to your guns and offer no diversion to these criminals. University of Otago: Throw them out. You've been far too lenient for far too long. Enough is enough. It's time for the university to accept responsibility for not doing enough to solve the problem of binge drinking and the consequences associated with it. I hold University of Otago fully responsible for the consistent misbehavior of drunken students. Do your bit to rid this beloved town from the mayhem these drunken idiots.
Fully agree
I fully agree with this. The university have to kick them out. The only reason which I can imagine why the uni still accept this is, that they want as much students as possible, no matter how they behave. More students, more money. But this attitude will have consequences, sooner or later.
Everyone should be equally responsible for their actions
Why should the people arrested who weren't students get just a prosecution, but for exactly the same behavior students get a prosecution and kicked out of Uni. That doesn't seem fair to me. Everyone should be equally responsible for their actions.