Queen Street riot 1984

I was a young police detective back then. I had recently transferred to Auckland and was living on the North Shore and working in the city. I was about 5 months out of uniform. I heard the news on my car radio on The Bridge. I got a call to report to central police station. No mobile phones in those days. I picked up my home home 5 minutes after getting home from work. Kind of wished I hadn't. Could have easily said I was at the pictures or something.

By the time I arrived back into the city it was a mop up operation. There were about 15 of us under one old school Det Inspector. We were set up into groups of 3 and wandered up and down Queen Street and surrounds. There were people badly hurt and one man had collapsed. We (uniforms, d's, civilians) stood guard while the ambulance arrived and carted him off to hospital. Scrotes wanted to bottle ambulance drivers. There were people beating the hell out of each other. I saw one girl hit with a bottle. I think the guy was in her party and things had got ugly and drunken. He whacked her over the head with a stubbie bottle. He was pounced on and locked up. She was carted off to hospital. There was wholesale looting. I arrested a teenage guy who had a watch from a jewellery store window and asked me if I wanted to buy it from him. He did a few months in jail for that little sales pitch. I took him back to the cells on foot and we both got a bit of lip from bystanders. Lot's of people were anti him for being a rioter and a thief and were all for giving him a bit of a biff. Many were anti me for being a copper - which was obvious from the handcuffs around his wrists that I was holding onto. We got safely back to the cells. It went on long into the night and there were lots of warrants executed, faces picked up while they were at home sleeping it off and some just did one more dumb thing and got locked up for being stupid. In the days and weeks that followed lots more arrests were made. There was as always with police work loads of bloody typing and form filling.

It was surreal. This wasn't the New Zealand I wanted to live in. It had a horrible lawless dangerous feel. An "Animal Farm" vibe. I had been at various events during the springbok tour earlier in my career and had sympathy with the anti apartheid protesters cause. I was in some ugly scenes during this. That was different to Aotea Square. The bok's aroused a sustained protest campaign and I saw a reason for it. There were rent a mob dicks who just wanted to fight the police then too. At Queen Street it was all so unnecessary. So stupid. I never liked the potential violence of policing. I liked the pitting of wits against an opponent and sometimes winning the game. Getting an arrest and a conviction in court later. That was great. There was lots of sad stuff we dealt with. Cot death, fatal road accidents, domestic violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide. I saw people at their worst often. I saw them on their worst day of their life in some cases.

I left the police about 5 years later and became a self employed contractor. I have a bunch of friends who were also once cops. I have some who the cops would like to speak to, I guess with some of their minor drug growing activities. I'm a live and let live kind of person these days in my late 50's. I will hum along if a Dave Dobbyn song comes on the radio. The man can write a tune. We all make mistakes.

I was there on the day, right in the thick of it.

It was terrorizing.

To this day I loathe Dave Dobbyn. Police were getting heavy handed in the mens toilet block which is what started the trouble, and Dobbyn pointed it out to the crowd.

I could go on and on but the city centre was cordoned off by police and you couldn't escape.

Cars were being rolled and torched, I was standing petrified in a shop doorway when the window was smashed and looters went through right beside me.

It took HOURS to get out.

Queen Street Riot. 30 years anniversary eh, wow! Yep, on that day I was living up top of Queen St. Wasn't even interested in the show, too busy living life. Then someone asks if I'm going along and I said nah not realy interested. Next minute they came back saying there was a fight broke out down there. So we all piled out onto footpath by the park. And as it all unfolded before our eyes everyone just started shaking a bit, even the cops and dees standing next to us. And then one of us said out loud "Don't you let them up to our place!" And for once, for all the rubbish we used to witness at night and early morning hours we and the cops became united right there and protecting our homes. We will always remember that, no matter what. It was scary alright, and we were some pretty hard blokes back at the time. That day we saw everything about what people will do to each other. It was just so extremely violent and stupid. Sudden and full on like you couldnt believe. Let's hope this never ever happens again in NZ history. Its not great, but you hav'nt seen people till you've seen this friends. And a message here to all those who knowingly took part, something I've never said till now. None of us could sleep easy that night because of all of you! You were the most selfish headstrong drunk idiots we have ever come across in life - and for what, exactly?. Just to blow off some steam? Realy? It shook us, shook our faith in people for the rest of life. But go ask a psychiatrist eh - yeah right! I don't suppose people have still actualy learned from their behaviour even now, have they? I remember this day like it was just yesterday. Sometimes I don't wanna be here because I know what you can all be like. Never let this happen again kiwi's. Too nasty for words.

Wow! My son turned ten this week and I've been thinking a lot about the sort of independence I would like to offer him now he's a tween. It got me thinking about all the freedom I had as a child, and at ten I had walked down into Auckland city alone to watch this concert! I still remember being at the front of a standoff and people were hurling beer bottles at police. One guy was holding a baby and was pondering aloud whether he should throw the baby's bottle at the police. I remember seeing all the looters smashing shop windows and stealing. Good or bad, what an experience for a young girl!

Hello sociology student and others;
I was heading up Queen street to catch my bus back to Dominion Road when the music was still playing that day and I waited for the bus in that block opposite and down a bit from the Aotea Square. The music sounded good and I was thinking of catching a later bus and heading over to listen when the music stopped and I could hear the caffufle beginning with angry shouting and so forth....(Nah, perhaps I will just catch my bus after all).
When the people started pouring out of the square and running in a bit of a frenzy down the street, smashing the windows and (I let my first bus go by and decided to wait for the next one heading roughly in my homeward direction) - then I watched from a distance as the guys who were rocking the little car so much it was going to overturn....somewhere on the western corner of Wellesley and Queen street intersection...got it to bounce over on its side and then as I recall it was set fire to. People were running around with a naughty frenzy look on their face and once some people were smaching things and behaving badly, it seemed a bit addictive like others were so very tempted to join in...and they looked caught up in the urge to be voyeurs of the procedings, or to actually smash some things themselves....the opportunity to rebel against the state authority and "civil" authority was there and people were really tempted to take the opportunity themselves.
I was internally struggling too, I was fascinatged enough (adrenalin?) to hang about at the bustop, observing, waiting to "see what happened next" whilst also thinking "No, I have to do the right thing and the right thing is that if all these people just took themselves home now, the streets would clear out and there would be no audience to fuel the worst of the behaviour. I made self catch the next bus homeward - which came along in the next 5-10 minutes.....though internally I desired to hang about and watch more....not liking it....but yes - there was definately a "crowd-fever" thing and perhaps the alcohol, some weed, the hostility to police authority (post the "81 tour etc), and the cutting short of the concert itself....all conspired to allow the violence and destruction in the people present to have an avenue to leak out through. I was about 22 and I recall thinking that good solid citizens would and were behaving dangerously and destructively, given the right circumstances. I got home and told my flatmates about it and had to be content to watch what unfolded on the telly. I still think I did the right thing by managing myself into the bus and off the street, would tell my family to go home and leave the scene of such things too. Damn shame when your conscience gets in the way of the excitement like that...but such is life, self control and excercise of wisdom.

I was there on the day and it was frightening. The cops basically cordoned off the city and the rioters (and innocent bystanders like me) were caught in a trap and couldn't get out for hours. I saw cars being rolled and set alight, the crowd chased, caught and attacked a photographer in front of me. Shop windows smashed, looters, the works. I blame Dave Dobbyn to this day. The guy's a tool of the first order. He was willfully working up the crowd and taunting the police.

My mrs shelley and i arrived with a chillybin during Herbs sound check. Id brought a mates toolbox back from oz and got some acid for my trouble. We were 17, found my cuz drinking on the grass area, grouse day, i remember seeing my mrs being the only one standing n dancing in front of the stage, next i knew ther was thousands of people, and we bumped into everyone that we knew, i caught a taxi back to my ship and ticked up the rest of the bar and back to the square, i saw that guy pissin of the roof and it was rather a trivial thing, next a squad of police in riot gear speared their way through the crowd chanting hey, hey, hey in a V formation,thats what pissed everyone off, the forceful barging, thats when they started getting bombed. I was by the citizens advice bureau when the window smashed and the police car was across the road from the civic outside stones furs and leather shop, damn there was so much going on for so long, a security guard had a hold of this maori outside the london bar and he grabbed me asking to help him, i smashed him in the face and the security gave me the high eyebrows, ill add more another time,could write a book

I remember it all too well. Went early to the event but my girlfriend and I were hungry so left to find a place to eat. We heard on the radio the place was 'a riot'. We thought "oh good the place is realy rocking on" We headed back to listen to the bands and got caught in the mess. I remember trying to keep my girlfriend safe and being told to move back down the street by sailors in uniform. Only problem was my motorcycle was parked out front of the St James and the Herald the next day showed it being knocked over and a car rolled over it before the car was set on fire. I rolled my bike out of the area and was stopped by a cop who thought I was stealing the bike. Ah well I was part of NZ history in a small way.

I was 17 when this happened. I remember sitting on the big rock in the middle of Aotea Square soaking up the atmosphere. I thought I had the best seat in the place. I remember seeing this guy climb up on the roof of the old Post Office and piss on this cop. We all thought it was hilarious. I dont think he did. I remember seeing a big fight up the front. We heard another fight happened and some one had broken into a gunshop. I think thats when the cops panicked. When they turned up I remember Dave Dobbyn saying to the cops f**k off you w*nk*rs. Most freaked out and bolted but some of us ran around by the WinterGarden and tried to get cheeky from behind them. I was pretty naughty then so I said,"Lets make a barricade". Next thing we were turning over a car on Victoria Street outside the Civic Theatre. I remember seeing my back on tv flipping the car.I took off to the 305 bus stop after that.

I finished high school in '84 and was at the concert with a couple of friends. We were drinking beer in the sun by the town hall and it was a great day. People were getting quite drunk (including us)and grooving to the music. As the afternoon wore on there were some drunken antics and it was getting a bit loose. I didn't know why the riot started (although I heard the story later about the guy p*ssing that the other person posted on this site) but I remember Dave Dobbyn saying the police were turning off the equipment and the concert was going to stop. Everyone started booing and then things escalated. In my memory it seemd to happen quite fast. People started throwing bottles at the stage and soon there were bottles everywhere, smashing on the concrete of Aotea Square, all around us. It rained bottles. My frineds and I had moved over to near the old Information Centre to try and protect ourselves from the glass missles. It had huge plate glass windows and this massive angry looking guy picked up one of those old wire rubbish bins and threw it at the window. I was so excited and amazed at this incredible rebellion that I must have been staring with my mouth wide open! The window bowed in and bounced the rubbish bin back. I realised that I was disa[ppointed and that I had actually wanted to see the window smash. The guy picked the bin up again and threw it really hard. The window smashed. It cascaded down like a glass waterfall. It was a stunning effect. Crowds surged down Queen Street, breaking windows and looting shops. Later we caught the bus home and the Police stopped the bus, got on and arrested some people with stolen stuff. The whole day was actually pretty cool, scary but the violence wasn't directed so much at people (at least in my experience) as property. Now I have my own children I would be outraged if this sort of thing happened but at the time, to a 16 year old, it was immaculate.