Brawl in car park at New Brighton

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 18

Brawl in car park at New Brighton

A young man was knocked unconscious in a fight which developed in a large crowd gathered in the New Brighton car park to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day last night.

Before the police arrived eggs and bottles flew, and crackers were thrown into the throng. Policemen appeared on the scene shortly after 8 p.m. and the merrymaking became more subdued. No one was arrested.

In the one serious fight, Mr C. E. Main, of 47 Brockworth Place, Riccarton, was knocked out. He was taken by a St John ambulance to Christchurch Hospital for treatment.

The incident began in the car park when Mr Main was hit on the back with an egg. There was also a minor skirmish in which blows were exchanged and a man was knocked to the ground, but no one was injured. Most of the crowd appeared to have gathered to watch others. When nothing happened and the fireworks ran out, about 9.30 pin., the gathering thinned. Between 7.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. engines of the Christchurch fire brigade answered 20 calls, mostly to bonfires and to scrub fires at New Brighton.

One fire was apparently caused by a cracker thrown under a car in Stanmore

Road. Slight damage was done to the car. Owen Byfield, of 349 Port Hills Road, said a bonfire on his property was doused although there was "absolutely I no danger” from it. Mr Byfield said the fire !was in an old rock quarry and had been held twice a year, on Guy Fawkes and New Year’s Eve, for the last

five years. The nearest buildings were 60 feet away and were his own sheds. He complained of “a lack of diplomacy" by the brigade, which, he said, did not check to see if there was any danger from the fire. Mr Byfield said he knew there was no way an individual could get a permit for a bonfire at night.