WOUNDED:Paramedics transport an injured boy from Bendigo Senior Secondary College. Picture: Peter Weaving
A TEENAGER was stabbed and another suffered head injuries in a brawl in the middle of the city yesterday.
About 100 teenagers were involved in the fight outside the new taxi rank in Howard Place.
Witnesses said knuckle dusters and knives were used as weapons.
Paramedics took two 17-year-old males to hospital following the incident just after 1pm.
The teenager with stab wounds to his back was taken into theatre, and another 17-year-old had a broken jaw and cuts to the head.
Both were recovering in stable conditions last night.
A group of young people, believed to be students at Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Bendigo Technical Education College and Bendigo TAFE, had met up for a fight that had been arranged earlier in the day.
Two teens injured in Rosalind Park brawl
A BRAWL in the middle of the city yesterday was sparked by an argument between two teenagers in Rosalind Park, witnesses say.
Students from Bendigo Senior Secondary College and other schools said word quickly spread there would be a “show-down” during their lunch break.
A series of messages and Facebook posts led to the arranged meeting, after a stranger punched a teenager for “looking at him funny”, one student said.
She said that because of the initial fight in the park, a number of people had decided to retaliate.
“A lot of people were organising to meet up. Everyone was talking about it,” she said.
About 100 teenagers, including students from BSSC, gathered around the new Safe Transport Space in Pall Mall just before 1pm.
One student said she saw knuckle dusters and one person wielding a knife that was 30cm long.
“It was a really long blade,” she said. “I don’t know why he had it, it was just stupid. Everything escalated quickly it was just really silly.”
Within minutes one boy suffered a stab wound and another had head injuries.
Police cars quickly arrived on the scene with flashing lights and sirens and the majority of the group scattered from the scene.
One year 11 student afterwards said that most of the crowd weren’t really sure what was happening but had gathered to watch on.
She said the fight was completely avoidable and that it was down to “the stupidity” of a couple of people at the centre.
“I still don’t know why they got so aggressive,” she said. “It ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would be.”
