Some Coromandel residents say they want a stronger police presence in the town following a gang fight over the weekend. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A Coromandel resident and business owner says she is heartbroken after gang members started a fight in her town.
Coromandel Business Association vice chair Anne Louden joined dozens of other residents at a public meeting last night to express their concerns to the council and their local MP.
She said it was an emotional evening.
"I've lived in Coromandel for every 30 years and this is the first time we've ever seen violence like this."
Louden said people who attended last night's meeting were "absolutely desperately upset that this has happened to our small town and I fully agree with them".
Over the weekend, Rebels gang members who were passing through the town were involved in multiple assaults.
Police said three people were hospitalised after 12 patched gang members were involved in a street fight.
A Rebels gang leader has apologised to Coromandel locals, but some residents told the meeting they wanted a stronger response from police.
"We have a very low police presence in our small town," Louden said.
"I know that that's very concerning for a lot of people so we're working with our mayor, Len Salt, to hopefully have some sort of a taskforce put in place so this sort of thing can't carry on."
She said some local business owners felt "duped" after serving gang members who were involved in the fight.
"The Rebels have stayed at their place, they've bought food from different places, they've bought fuel; at that point the assault hadn't taken place," she said.
"They're just overwhelmed now that the people that they saw could lash out with such violence, they're sort of asking themselves, I guess now, how easily they've been duped."
'Take it somewhere else'
Thames Coromandel Mayor Len Salt told Morning Report the fight was an isolated incident, but he understood why people were worried.
"We've got a great little town in Coromandel and we're in the news for all the wrong reasons" - Thames Coromandel Mayor Len Salt
The anger and frustrations expressed by locals at the meeting were "directed at the people who came into town and caused the problems", he said.
"We've got a great little town in Coromandel and we're in the news for all the wrong reasons."
Salt said he did not have "too much detail" on whether the fight was an internal gang dispute or something broader which involved bystanders, but police were investigating.
"Talking to locals, they're pretty comfortable that it's not something that was widespread."
The people involved with the gang had "connections with one of the local communities north of Coromandel", he said.
"They're known to locals and they brought some mates with them; there was a bit of celebration."
Salt said it was his understanding that the gang members' behaviour while in the town was "not out of line until they got into this scrap", however "the behaviour during that was completely unacceptable and dangerous ... and that's what's got people really concerned".
He said the council was working with the community to try and ensure police were alerted early to the presence of gangs in the area and said there was a strong feeling at the meeting that the solutions to the issue needed to be community-led.
"Times like this you come together as a community, you start talking about how can we participate in helping the police, because they are stretched. We can help give them information, we can give them the resourcing and support that they need."
The meeting also showed the community wanted to "send a message loud and clear to the people involved in this behaviour", that it was "not what we want to see in our town - take it somewhere else," he said.