KEY POINTS:
Police are warning Whangarei school student brawlers they face being arrested after officers were called to a street fight before classes started yesterday.
Police went to Wallace St in Kensington at 8.30am after reports of 12 Whangarei Boys' High School students fighting with about 50 others watching.
Officers were there within minutes but those involved in the fight merged into the throngs of uniform-clad students on their way to school. The brawl is the latest violent incident near the school - a main congregation point for school buses for the city's secondary schools - in recent months.
Officers spoke to a few students and searched at least one school bag yesterday. Officers returned to the area around the school again at lunchtime to prevent further trouble.
Whangarei police Sergeant Grant Rouse said he spoke to staff at Whangarei Boys' High School and asked them to relay a message to the principal that police would be taking a tough line against students fighting on the way to and from school.
"We will start arresting them," Mr Rouse said.
In September a 15-year-old student was allegedly attacked with a golf club as he made his way to Boys' High. A 17-year-old was arrested as a result.
Yesterday's street fight comes after a student was allegedly pushed to the ground then kicked and punched on the school grounds last Friday. At least one Boys' High student has laid a complaint with police after allegedly being assaulted by students in the school grounds.
He ended up with a bruised eye and a cracked tooth while others who tried to help him from the alleged attackers sustained minor bruising. Two students have been stood down for four days as a result of that incident.
The latest schoolground assault has some parents worried about violence among Boys' High students. "The school needs to get on top of it" a concerned father, who did not want to be named, said. "There needs to be an independent inquiry into the violence. They need to look at the bigger picture over the last six months or so and find out what is causing this."
A mother of a boy involved in Friday's alleged assault, said she was concerned at the lack of communication from the school.
Her son had tried to help his friend who was allegedly kicked on the ground. He received only minor bruising. "No-one seems to want to talk to the parents about the fight. I don't know what the school is doing about this fight. I'm in the dark and only know what I have heard through the grapevine," she said.
Boys' High headmaster Al Kirk was in an all-day meeting yesterday.
However, deputy principal Geoff Seletto said the school took street fights that involved their students very seriously. He said police were contacted when the school suspected a problem.
"When we get wind of something contacting the police is one of the first things we do," Mr Seletto said.
"The police support and assistance is hugely appreciated by the school. To have police there has a very sobering effect."
He said to deter students from fighting there was a greater teacher presence on the streets when students were going to and from school.
The police warning was to be passed on to students at assembly.
"We make it abundantly clear that we have a zero tolerance to violence," Mr Seletto said.
He confirmed two students had been stood down for four days following last Friday's fight.
- NZH
