Alcohol fuels mass brawl in city centre

One man was stabbed and another thrown from a roof as up to 20 people fought in a mass brawl in Hamilton early yesterday.

The fight broke out in a carpark in Hamilton's Knox St about 1.30am, where one man was stabbed.

The clash then moved to a nearby parking building, where another man was thrown from the roof.

The man fell one storey and broke an arm.

They were two of three men taken to hospital following the fight, which police said involved weapons including a chain and a bat.

Police have arrested a 22-year-old man for fighting and assault with a weapon but are hunting for others involved in the battle.

Detective Sergeant Neville Ross said the incident was driven by alcohol.

"It was a mixture of youth, alcohol and stupidity all mixed into one and it all got too much for everybody," he said.

The three men were in stable conditions in Waikato Hospital.

Senior Sergeant Neil Shaw of Hamilton said that on some weekends, police were arresting up to 30 people on a Friday or Saturday night for breaching the liquor ban in force in the city.

"There's probably more than that, that we actually deal with."

He said crimes of violence and disorder generally increased in the city around this time of year with the annual influx of students returning to Hamilton.

Orientation week starts in the city this week.

He said there were a number of arrests for disorder on Saturday night on top of the fight that broke out in Knox St.

Meanwhile, a Chinese student was in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital yesterday after an accident in Edinburgh St in Hamilton about 9.30 on Saturday night.
The student was found lying on the road next to her bicycle with serious head injuries.

It is not known how the accident happened.

Police said they were investigating the possibility of a hit-and-run crash.