Wild scenes in Whangamatā as cafe suffers 'significant damage' during youths' New Year's revelry

New Year's Eve celebrations in Whangamatā turned sour overnight after a group of teenagers mounted the roof of a cafe, some tossing bottles in the direction of police officers and the crowd below. 

Police in the Coromandel town equipped with riot gear had to be called in to the break up the incident near Williamson Park after flying alcohol bottles thrown from the roof injured "a number of people".

Eyewitness video shows partygoers on the roof of Blackies Cafe tossing bottles in the direction of a large crowd of revellers and police officers below.

"Although initially relatively peaceful, there were pockets of alcohol fuelled violent disorder including throwing projectiles into the crowds and numerous breaches of the liqour ban in place,"

"A large number of youths had climbed onto the roof of the building and commenced throwing additional projectiles into the crowds and at police officers, Eastern Waikato Area Commander Inspector Dean Anderson said.

Police say the cafe itself suffered "significant damage".

Additional police had to be called in from Bay of Plenty to help handle the incident.