Three disorder-related arrests following Auckland Diwali Festival

Organisers of the Auckland Diwali Festival say they are disappointed following multiple police complaints and three disorder-related arrests after the event on Sunday night.

Footage of an ugly brawl that erupted after a man was hit by a car and knocked off his feet on Queen St also surfaced online.

Indian community leader and Crime Prevention Group president Sunny Kaushal said antisocial behaviour are keeping families and women from joining the annual festival.

Kaushal, who was at the event, said his son Shail Kaushal, a local board member, had to intervene in an incident and got organisers Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development (Ateed) to close a stage.

Father and son Shail Kaushal, a local board member, and Sunny Kaushal, of the Crime Prevention Group. Photo / File

After the event, Kaushal said Queen St turned into a street filled with "intoxicated, loud and shocking hooligans".

"Some of them were jumping on cars and some idiots dancing in front of buses in running traffic," Kaushal said.

"Auckland Council needs to revisit arrangements and take the event to a different venue next year."

In the video, a nasty fight broke out between what appeared to be a group of Tongan rugby league fans and a group of Diwali celebrators.

A police spokeswoman said police attended the Queen St area on Sunday night from about 10pm onwards following multiple reports of disorder.

"There were three disorder-related arrests that night," she said.

"We're unable to confirm if the people arrested were at the Diwali Festival."

Ateed head of major events Stuart Turner said he was disappointed that a small number of people were coming to the festival intoxicated and impacting on the enjoyment of others.

"Ateed ... will address this as part of our routine festival debrief to explore actions we may take next year," Turner said.

These debriefs involved the police, Auckland Council, Auckland Transport and festival security and would be looking into putting solutions for future events, he said.

Turner said the festival was an alcohol-free, family-friendly event.

"Ateed has been aware there is a split in audience groups in the evenings, which is why we created a separate DJ stage in 2015, removed from the main stage area which is popular with families," he said.

Festival staff had contingency plans to monitor, deploy more security and shut that stage if required.

"We put that into action due to the behaviour of a small group of people, estimated to be about 15, on both Saturday and Sunday night," Turner said.

On Saturday night the stage was closed early and the group was asked to leave the festival, and on Sunday, the stage took a break at 7pm while the same group was again asked to leave the festival.

The DJ entertainment resumed an hour later.

The Auckland Diwali Festival ran from noon to 9pm last Saturday and Sunday.

Turner said the festival was a modern, secular festival, inspired and informed by the traditional Indian Diwali festival.

"It aims to celebrate Auckland's ethnic Indian communities, help tell Auckland's Indian stories and share this celebration with Aucklanders and visitors of all backgrounds," he added.