Bucklands Beach skirmish

During 2008, tension grew between the West and East sides of the Bucklands Beach Peninsula, in Auckland, New Zealand. To categorise simply, everyone on the western side of Clovelly Road is classed as West, and everyone on the eastern side classified East. There are more complicated issues in deciding who is on which side due to specific family relationships. The very north end of the peninsula has so far stayed out of the fight as they are unsure which side of the road they belong on.

Most of the tension stemmed from road works blocking the only road through the peninsula. These took months to complete and several of the West occupants were charged for the damage through a council error. The story told on the West was that a group of East siders had damaged the road and electrical utilities on the West side of the road. This resulted in a whole series of council road works and other fixes being necessary. On the East side a similar, but opposing story was told.

Small arguments and fights came about as a result, often through the local soccer and tennis clubs, but these reached their peak in early September 2008 when the East cliff face was sabotaged and a landslip was declared likely. Several houses have had to be evacuated, including that of well known east side group leader Sir Barry Curtis, and are now at risk of falling into the sea. It is believed that a revenge attack is being planned by the East side group currently, though sources have given mixed messages, some even saying the East side wants the skirmish to stop as it has gone too far.

The New Zealand Police are reported to be investigating a number of assaults that occurred at the local soccer club during a weekend junior soccer game. The assaults are said to have been carried out by East side residents upon the West siders suspected of being responsible for the cliff face sabotage.

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