Rolling brawl erupts in Wan Chai
A former Fijian Sevens rugby player has been convicted of assaulting a police officer after a vicious rolling brawl through the streets of Wan Chai early yesterday.
People who witnessed the fighting between at least 50 players in various team colours, nightclub security staff and other revellers told the South China Morning Post it ended only after police used shields, batons and pepper spray to subdue the players.
Paula Maisiri, 32, who was playing for the Playmore Phantoms in the annual GFI Hong Kong Football Club Tens tournament, pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to assaulting an officer outside the Dusk til Dawn bar at about 5am.
Maisiri, of Palmerston North, New Zealand, a professional rugby player, was fined HK$500.
People in Wan Chai early yesterday said Maisiri was one of the key figures in the melee, which lasted for an hour before eventually being brought under control by officers outside Dusk til Dawn, on Jaffe Road.
Police are still investigating the incident and have called on witnesses to come forward.
The brawl was sparked by an earlier incident in Carnegie's bar in which, according to police, one man attacked a player with a glass for no apparent reason. The victim was taken to hospital.
Fighting flared again outside the Amazonia bar, on the corner of Luard and Jaffe roads, before 5am when security staff refused to allow players to enter. Dozens of men then chased another man down Jaffe Road, followed by security staff and police. More players followed and the fight quickly escalated. Police using riot shields attempted to break it up but were met with a flurry of fists.
Maisiri was in the centre of things and continued to fight his way from one side of the road to the other, even after police sprayed him (and a number of onlookers) with pepper spray.
Order was eventually restored and a large group were detained behind a police cordon by officers in riot gear.
Bianca Vowell, who plays rugby for Valley, said she had never seen such an outbreak of trouble in Hong Kong. She has been in the city since 1982. 'There were police with shields and batons and blood everywhere,' she said.
Another woman, who plays rugby for Kowloon, said there were players running everywhere.
'They were running everywhere through the streets,' she said. 'They were like a herd. The fighting exploded like it would on a rugby field. There were so many people watching. I've never seen anything like it.'
