Santas Go on Rampage

Santa Crawling gets out of hand

A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand's largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday.

The rampage, dubbed "Santarchy" by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.



She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.

Santas entered a downtown convenience store and carried off beer and soft drinks.

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

Alex Dyer, a spokesman for the group, said Santarchy was a worldwide movement designed to protest the commercialization of Christmas.

A new way of bringing in the Christmas season is something started around 1992 where people organize a bar hop dressed as Santa. As anything involving alcohol and large numbers, it can get out of hand.

Any claims of protesting the commercialization of Christmas is of course hogwash. The latest excuse for tacky or tasteless behavior is some kind of protest.

Basil's

Right Wing Nation