Ninety involved in brawl outside pub

Alex Johnson -- Warrnambool Standard Feb 9th, 2009 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2009. 

ALMOST 100 people took part in a drunken brawl outside a Port Fairy hotel. The fight erupted in the Caledonian Hotel just as the pub was closing about 1am on Saturday, before spilling outside onto Bank Street, Port Fairy Senior Constable Chris Carr said. It was believed the fight, which lasted more than 15 minutes, began after a patron interfered with band equipment during the performance. "There were lots of other members of the public that quickly joined in the fight," Senior Constable Carr said. "It wasn't able to be contained or restrained by hotel staff or security." Four police cars rushed to the scene with nine officers from Port Fairy and Warrnambool trying to quell the violence. Senior Constable Carr, who was first on the scene, drove slowly through the crowd with sirens blaring and lights flashing but was unable to separate what appeared to be two sides to the fight. Patrons had been drinking in Port Fairy after a funeral on Friday and Senior Constable Carr believed this group may have clashed with other patrons from Melbourne who were in town for a wedding. A series of fights continued to flare up while police rushed to the scene, with most of the 90 people on the street involved at different times, he said. The fight eventually came to an end after police managed to separate the two groups to different sides of Bank Street. "It's been probably the biggest hotel fight for some time in Port Fairy," Senior Constable Carr said. "There were probably hundreds of minor injuries but no serious injuries were reported. "It was very, very lucky that we didn't get more serious injuries." He said it was "disappointing that something could escalate from perhaps a small incident initially but it was the end of one of those sort of hot days". Nobody was charged but police are continuing their discussions with the licensees. The hotel's management declined to comment.

 

The band which was playing the night of the brawl - The Louise Clancey Band