Police caught in middle of huge fights More than 80 people clashed in street fights in Wairoa and Gisborne leaving one critically injured with brawlers hurling bottles and lumps of concrete at police.
Off-duty police officers were called in to help their colleagues after police caught "in the fight zone" retreated for safety and the windscreen of a patrol car was smashed by a concrete missile.
The injured man was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital early yesterday with severe head injuries after a shouting match between about 40 people at two parties in Wairoa escalated into a full-scale brawl.
Nobody was injured or arrested in the Gisborne fight, which involved about 40 rival Black Power and Mongrel Mob gang members, and had to be broken up by police.
Police initially said the Wairoa fight was also between rival gangs, who have clashed in sporadic violence in Wairoa and neighbouring Frasertown for more than 20 years.
However, Detective Sergeant Mick Lander later said it was not a gang incident, although some gang members were likely to have been involved.
"It was one party versus the other.
"At any party in Wairoa in certain areas ... there's always going to be families on each side that support one gang or another."
The behaviour of those involved was "ridiculous", Lander said. "It escalated to an unbelievable extent."
The two police officers who turned up found themselves in the middle of the brawl and had to retreat to call for back-up.
"There were bottles already being smashed at that stage, and the police cars were bottled and a lump of concrete went through the front windscreen of the car.
"We were right in the middle of the fight zone."
A 23-year-old labourer, a 19-year-old fencer and a 15-year-old unemployed youth, all male, were arrested at the scene.
The 15-year-old will appear in the Gisborne Youth Court today. The other two men will appear in the Gisborne District Court, all on violence-related charges.
Police planned to lay further charges against the trio and more arrests were likely in the next few days.
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