An Auckland high school is warning students to avoid the New Lynn bus station on Friday amid reports of a planned mass brawl between pupils.
It comes as Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith attends a Friday meeting with the police and New Lynn community members about the recent spike in crime and violent attacks in the area.
In a statement, police confirmed reports of "possible planned disorder" in the area on Friday afternoon.
As a result, there'd be an increased presence of officers and security in the area around the bus and train station, a police spokesperson said.
"In recent weeks, our staff have been conducting increased patrolling in response to issues with groups of young people fighting or intimidating people.
"Police want to emphasise that this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will utilise all tools available to us to identify and hold youth offenders to account."
Western Springs College, in a message to parents, to "organise students to take alternative routes or make other arrangements" from the New Lynn station, the NZ Herald reported.
"Just been informed by my boys kura [sic] 'to avoid using New Lynn bus/train station... and find/use alternative routes that avoid going through that area,'" a parent posted on a local community Facebook group on Thursday.
"Passing on the information as we have heard how many negative things have happened recently at that particular station... Not sure why or what information they've been provided that they had to urgently inform us but would rather more people know about it so no innocent bystanders/tamariki get hurt IF something was to happen."
The community could expect increasing numbers of officers patrolling the area in the coming weeks, police said.
"Police take this sort of offending seriously and we will continue to respond to these incidents urgently," the spokesperson added.
Whau ward councillor Kerrin Leoni told Newshub more support is needed to stop a recent spike of young people fighting in the area.
"The extra security and police is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff," she said.
"Prevention work is the most important thing to do. To get into high schools and provide those services."
Leoni said having more Māori and Pasifika wardens would also be a step in the right direction.
"We know they can connect really well with our communities. That supportive role, in a way, can be more appropriate to address some of these situations."
