Christchurch's Drunken Mayhem

Source: Stuff.co.nz

By Jo Mckenzie-Mclean

"Christchurch's inner city at the weekend was "absolute mayhem! with drunk people, particularly women, "at each other's throats", police say.

Inspector Malcolm Johnston, who was part of Operation Crusade on Saturday night, said he was disappointed and shocked by the number of drunk and disorderly people drawn into the city by the warm weather and Christmas in the Park.

Absolute mayhem

"It was absolute mayhem. I don't know how many arrests there were. We just didn't have time to make arrests; we were just pushing people apart. There were just so many confrontations, scuffles and violence going on; people getting bashed and robbed. It was just shocking, you know, with that 24-hour drinking. It was just incredible.

"You could not arrest someone, which takes (a police officer) off the street for an hour to process them. You couldn't afford to be off the street for an hour because it was just mayhem out there."

Some women had shown their nasty, drunken side, Johnston said.

Drunk women at each other's throats

"I could not get over the number of drunk women who were at each other's throats. A lot of guys were trying to keep them parted and that would escalate and, from there, you would get a massive brawl," Johnston said.

"There is nothing wrong with alcohol, but I don't know why people stay out till after 3am and continue to drink and get written off and turn into nasty violent drunks."

The chaos started unusually early - about 11pm.

Between 10pm and 3am there were 31 arrests.

A large number of people were summonsed to appear in court for breaching the liquor ban."

See also: Christchurch's weekend battleground