A police officer said he was beaten in the face after being surrounded by more than 30 menacing men. The incident led to the arrest of eight teenagers in the middle of the night.
Police received reports that a man tried to remove a street sign from Bank Street at 01:20 and that a group of people were causing unrest.
When the police tried to arrest one of them, the crowd began to rush to the police, and some even tried to pull the police away to protect the suspect.
A nearby security guard was also involved in the dispute and sustained minor injuries, with a police officer claiming to have been attacked.
More police officers came to the scene and seven men and one woman, all between the ages of 18 and 19, were arrested.
Local cafe owner Derek Crozier said the night-shift security officer told him about it on Friday morning when he bought coffee.
"I heard a fight in Bank Street, and a lot of cops got involved," he said. "it seemed violent.
"there is still a small piece of broken glass on the road, and a marker pole has been knocked over."
"it sounds like those young people came from a nightclub and went wild on the road."
The damaged marker rod has now been replaced.
Most of the youths involved were accused of exacerbating the unrest, but an 18-year-old boy from Flagstaff Hill was also accused of damaging property, obstructing, resisting arrest and assaulting police.
Another Brighton boy was accused of damaging property and obstructing police investigations. An 18-year-old girl from Kingston Park was also charged with damaging property.
On June 29, all were released on bail and appeared in Adelaide Magistrate court.
Police say they will censor CCTV footage and expect more charges.
Bank Street is located in Adelaide`s West End, between the entertainment areas of Hindley Street and North Terrace, is a short street.
Mr. Crozier said the installation of high-tech closed-circuit television cameras at the end of last year when the streets were upgraded meant that nearby police could respond quickly to the incident.
"when something like this happens, it`s absolutely scary," he said. "but after the street escalates, security is much better than it used to be."
However, another shopkeeper on the street says the cameras don`t work much and that young people tend to make trouble.
