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Originally Posted by herp
The word 'riot' is being thrown about pretty easily around here without much thought to it..
I've been to the Undie 500 in Dunedin and I've lived on Castle Street, I've seen what happens down there. I believe this is just a massive media beat up from the start, so the cops got involved and that is where I believe the trouble all starts.
No bottles would have been thrown if the police didn't turn up in riot gear, form a line across the street, march everyone away and pepper spray everyone. What did they expect to happen, seriously? What ever happens when police turn up somewhere in riot gear and get aggressive - a riot starts (like Whangamata in 96 (also present)). Cops don't turn up in riot gear and politely ask people to turn away - they yell, chase, stick you with batons and spray shit in your face. I've seen police in riot gear whack 70 year old men and young children, there's no politeness when they are kitted up. Do you expect 18-20 year old students to just back down when intimidated like that?
As for couch burning, it's pretty much a tradition down there and "burning other peoples property" is only ever "burning our own property." It happens every weekend and you only ever burn your own couch. Being shocked at that really shows how ignorant some people are at what goes down there. There was a time where you couldn't even park your car on Castle St for fear of it being trashed.
I'm not condoning the people who threw the bottles - they should get what they deserve - but I'm not condoning the actions taken by the police either. It would have never happened if it was properly organised through official channels. I can't believe the amount of animosity in this forum from people wanting to ban it and crucify the students.
Personally, I think the event itself is awesome and it's hilarious to witness the Canterbury students go all out in their costumes and drive their made-up shitboxes through the streets. It puts the costumes at the Welly 7's to shame.
Anyways that's just my perspective from own experiences. I see both sides of the argument here but some grumpy people here seem to suffer from extreme agoraphobia. Probably the same people who complained when Auckland wanted to host the V8's.
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Agree 100%. The Castle St Keg party sees waaaaaay more alcohol consumed than the Undie 500 but yet there are usually minimal issues.
Why? There's a couple of beat cops there throughout the day and you don''t get a bunch showing up later in riot gear. C'mon, 50 cops in riot gear in front of a large group of pissed testosterone fueled teens. Of course one of them is going to think "hrm...wonder how tough that riot gear really is. Fuckit, let's find out"
Notice how the problems only start once the police show in force?