By Wilhelmina Shrimpton
Police are investigating a massive schoolgirl brawl which broke out in a south Auckland car park yesterday.
Officers say the fight, which involved up to 50 youths, was organised on Facebook and is part of the growing problem of online youth crime.
Two officers intervened, but the students then appeared to turn on them.
"It's pretty shocking behaviour really," says Inspector Julia Lynch. "You see police officers arrive and yet you still see these young people getting in there… fighting and trying to pull people away from the officers."
Police say the girls are mostly Manurewa High School students, and fortunately, no one was injured.
"It's unacceptable, it shouldn't be tolerated," says the school's principal Pete Jones. "It's not a Manurewa High School issue, it's not a police issue, it's a community issue."
Footage of the incident has gone viral, and Insp Lynch says what ended up on Facebook was also started there.
"We've got young people that are actually getting onto social media and they're connecting," says Insp Lynch.
"They're organising different crimes, they're looking at stealing cars, doing ram-raids, aggravated robberies, and obviously organised fighting as well."
Police say one of the girls has been referred to youth aid and they are now working closely with the school.
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