26 Feb 2014

Police investigate mall fight video

10:38 pm on 26 February 2014

Tauranga police are investigating a video that shows groups of young people fighting and intimidating members of the public at a local shopping mall.

Watch footage of the fight, taken from Facebook

Two videos on Facebook show up to 30 young people fighting or encouraging others to fight at the Bayfair mall.

The videos show those involved physically blocking a security guard who is trying to intervene and a car whose driver is trying to leave the carpark.

A person who works at Bayfair, Wendy Saunders, said groups of young people hang around the mall drinking and smoking, and ask members of the public for money or personal items in an intimidating manner.

Police have seen one of the videos and Bay of Plenty area commander Inspector Clifford Paxton said officers were trying to identify who is involved.

Mr Paxton acknowledged there was a problem at Bayfair with large groups of people congregating and said it is clear more safety measures are needed there.