KEY POINTS:
Students leaders have vowed to "crucify" those responsible for the rioting which led to almost 70 arrests in Dunedin at the weekend.
The Undie 500 event, organised Canterbury University engineering students society (Ensoc), now faces the axe.
Ensoc president William Corke said today he was "incredibly disappointed" that an event planned over the last 10 months had been tarnished by "idiots".
The society would take all measures possible to "crucify" those responsible and "make sure everybody knows those idiots ruined it"," he said.
Mr Corke said many Canterbury students had already left Dunedin to return to Christchurch before the rioting on Saturday night.
He said Ensoc had never organised any official events other than the Undie 500 - where students buy and decorate vehicles for under $500 and join a convoy south - and what happened on Saturday night, while involving some Canterbury students, was not sanctioned by organisers.
This year, 150 vehicles and 1200 students took part.
"Realistically there are so many people down there, there's nothing to do and people get up to mischief," Mr Corke said.
Some students have claimed heavy handed tactics by police exacerbated the riots.
The Otago Daily Times today quoted students who said the police brought Saturday night's chaos on themselves after turning up in riot gear and "turfing" people out of their homes for no good reason.
They said anti-police feeling was high during the evening as police used batons and riot-response tactics to move about 2000 drunken students from Castle St.
Students said the mere presence of the police provoked students to goad them further and the police response was heavy-handed and unnecessary.
"This didn't start until the cops arrived," one student said. "As soon as they got here, people started throwing bottles."
Dunedin District Court will be kept busy in the aftermath of the alcohol-fuelled rampage in the city on Saturday night.
Police were pelted with bottles, drunken students set fire to cars and mattresses, and 69 arrests were made between 7pm on Friday and 7am yesterday.
Of those arrested, 30 were Otago University students and 24 were Canterbury University students.
Fifteen were non-students "there to join in the fun", Dunedin police Senior Sergeant Bruce Ross said yesterday.
Today a Dunedin police spokesman said the city had been quiet overnight.
"I guess they're all sleeping it off," he said.
The rioting was centred in the heart of the student area of North Dunedin and took place in the wake of the student Undie 500 car race from Christchurch to Dunedin.
Those arrested will begin to appear in Dunedin District Court from tomorrow on a variety of charges, including breaching the peace.
Mr Ross said police were at one of the flats talking to the occupants on Saturday night when they began to be pelted with bottles.
"It was totally unprovoked."
It took police, with extra reinforcements from outlying areas, until about 11pm to bring the crowd under control.
But some students claim the police provoked the riot.
Mr Ross said police and fire crews were lucky to escape without any serious injury as students threw bottles and set cars alight, he said.
"Some police have got some nasty grazes from flying bottles."
Dunedin's mayor Peter Chin said he was devastated by the aftermath of the destruction he saw.
Mr Chin said the council and university had made good progress over the years managing the event to ensure problems like last night were avoided.
"All those measures haven't worked."
Mr Chin said he refused to accept that drunkenness was an excuse for the students behaviour.
"I hope those arrested will not be diverted, they have to be responsible for their actions."
Mr Chin said there was a difference between having fun and creating mayhem.
He had already spoken with police and would speak with university representatives about the event.
"The clean-up is under way and everything will be restored but the aftermath will take sometime to resolve."
While he did not know what triggered the students to riot, Mr Chin said the length of time people had been drinking had to be a major contributor.
Mr Chin said the rioting came at a time when the culture of the university had been broken down and Otago university past-times such as couch burning had been phased out.
"Things had been working extremely well."
The majority of students at Otago were there for the education and a minority was spoiling it for them with their bad behaviour, he said.
"I'm really pissed off with what's happened."
Mr Chin and Inspector Alastair Dickie, the officer in charge of the weekend's police operation, have both called for the end of the Undie 500 event.
Otago University Students Association president Renee Heal said she expected there would be calls for an end to the event and she would not be disappointed.
"I think there is an urban legend that you come down with the express intention to light fires and get really drunk and we had done a jolly good job of changing that myth, but this weekend has undone all of that," she said.
It was clear the Otago University's code of conduct introduced after last year's riots on the Undie 500 weekend had been completely ineffective, she said.
Meanwhile another student flashpoint, the Uni Snow Games, started in Wanaka on Saturday and will end on Friday. Wanaka police told the Southland Times yesterday they had already arrested 12 people since Friday night for disorderly behaviour, theft, assault and wilful damage.
However, they would not say if any of those arrested were university students.
Senior Constable Ian Henderson said most of the arrests were alcohol related and it appeared the drinking responsibly message was not getting through.
Games director Jenlin Wong yesterday said it was difficult to curb drunkenness but the games, to be held at Cardrona, were about snow events and fun. Bad behaviour would not be tolerated.
- NZPA
