Drunk Santas cause New Zealand mayhem

Forty drunken Santas have rampaged through central Auckland, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards in a protest against the commercialisation of Christmas.
The New Zealand Herald reports some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched during the fracas.

"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," convenience store staff member Changa Manakynda said.

The newspaper says the event organiser, Alex Dyer, had warned the antics would only stop when someone was arrested.

It links the incident to "Santarchy".

Santarchy (www.santarchy.com) records protests going back around 10 years in the United States, with participants marking Christmas in anti-commercial manner involving street theatre, pranks and public drunkenness.

Police say identification is a key issue as they try to sort out which of the 40 men and women had done what.

"With a number of people dressed in the same outfit, it was difficult for any witnesses to confirm the identity of who was doing what," Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers said.

- Reuters