Undie 500 kicks off, under watchful eye of police

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 9:33p.m.

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Police say they have made two arrests in Ashburton of students competing in the Undie 500, they have also brought in spot checks for warrants on cars.

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13/09/2009 3:21:01 p.m.

bt wrote:

Oh Dear, Conor. It is attitudes like yours that spawn exactly the sort of behaviour we saw in Dunedin over the last two nights. Take a bit of responsibility for your actions (if you were on the rally this year) and accept that your actions influence others. If you play with fire and you are liable to get burnt. No good blaming the Police old son.

12/09/2009 7:19:56 a.m.

Conor Phelan wrote:

It is reported here that there were 2 arrests made in Ashburton. It fails, however, to specify what these arrests were for and who exactly was arrested. My bet is that these 2 people were not Undie500 participants at all. The reasoning behind my speculation is because of the tight rules regulating the Undie500 and it's participants. Each car MUST have a sober driver and a current WOF, failure to do this would have resulted in a catastrophic waste of time, as their car would not have been let out of Christchurch. It's not the Undie 500 participants themselves that are causing the trouble, it's dickheads that tag along with the car rally and some Dunedin locals that congregate in North Dunedin in order to 'riot' specifically because the media has portrayed the Undie 500 as a violent event, rampant with riotous behaviour. I expect that tonight, much like last night, there will be congregations of students in North Dunedin. I expect that the police will decide to use this congregation as an 'exercise' to test out riot dispersion tactics. Once the police do show up, then, and only then will any 'riotous' behaviour occur. I believe that showing up to a large crowd of intoxicated youths with full protective riot gear - expecting people not to throw bottles at you, is like entering a kindergarten dressed as Barney the dinosaur and expecting 4-year-olds not to hug you.

12/09/2009 5:35:49 a.m.

Alex wrote:

Can see one error already in this bulletin: "Police are not taking any nonsense from students 'competing' in this year’s Undie 500" Please get your facts straight, it is NOT a race. It is simply a convoy. Participating is the appropriate word.