Violent clashes between Warwick and Pembroke Parish rivals on New Years Day led to charges being laid against four youths yesterday in Magistrates' Court.

An array of fights broke in the early hours of the holiday along Front Street causing the Police Support Unit to be called into action and the street closed off to control the fracas.

Maurico Mario Darwin Atkins, Jonathan Dill, Jevon Lyn Lambert and Dion Smith all pleaded guilty to offences related to their roles in the street brawl which the court heard may have drawn one thousand onlookers.

Atkins, 16, of Southampton, originally faced two charges of possession of an offensive weapon and using offensive words but Crown Counsel Charmaine Smith withdrew the second charge after he pleaded guilty to the weapons offence.

Ms Smith said the Police Support Unit responded to a disturbance on Front Street between Burnaby and Parliament Streets at 2.40 a.m. and found Atkins in a verbal confrontation with two men.

"He raised his right hand brandishing a black ball attached to a looped handle," she said. Officers arrested and cautioned Atkins, who replied: "I needed it (the weapon) these guys are always f**king with me."

Atkins later denied the weapon belonged to him, saying one of his attackers had dropped it and he picked it up.

Ms Smith displayed the weapon to Acting Senior Magistrate Tyrone Chin and asked that he order its destruction, to which he complied.

Atkins, who appeared in court with his mother, told Magistrate Chin he had merely fought back when attacked.

"I came out of Pier Six and the fighting started to happen," he said. "Someone came towards me swinging the weapon. I punched him, he dropped it and I picked it up. It (wasn't) my weapon."

Mr. Chin elected not to sentence the teenager pending a social inquiry report from Probation Services. Atkins was given bail of $750 with like surety and is to appear for sentencing January 23.

Mr. Chin also imposed a curfew between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. on the teenager.

Jonathan Dill, 19, of Pembroke, first denied an affray charge related to the New Year's brawl, but quickly changed his plea to guilty when Mr. Chin remanded him to custody for trail today.

Duty counsel Peter Farge protested that Dill was only changing his plea under duress and would have needed time to find a lawyer and prepare a defence.

"He's playing games with this court," Mr. Chin replied and again asked Dill if he was pleading guilty, to which Dill replied `yes'.

Ms Smith told the court Police saw Dill fighting with another man not before the court when they arrived at the street brawl.

Police tried to separate the combatants but were prevented by the crowd which numbered possibly 1,000 people.

Officers observed Dill in two other altercations before prying him from the last one. "I was helping my boy," Dill told Police when arrested. "I was not fighting. I was injured."

Mr. Chin gave Dill a three month sentence, suspended for one year, on the affray charge, explaining that if he appears before the court again this year, he will be jailed.

Also charged in relation to the fighting was 21-year-old Jevon Lambert of Warwick.

Lambert pleaded guilty to wilfully obstructing Police officers who were attempting to break up the brawl.

Ms Smith said Police found Lambert pushing through the crowd as they attempted to control the situation. Lambert got into a physical altercation with an officer and was arrested. "You guys are locking up the wrong people," he replied to officers.

Lambert told Mr. Chin he had not been involved in the fight and had only been caught up in the confusion.

Mr. Chin handed him a fine of $600 on the charge.

Finally, 17-year-old Warwick youth Dion Smith pleaded guilty to an affray charge in relation to the fight.

Ms Smith told the court Police found him throwing punches in a group of ten men.

"The fighting seemed to be taking place between men from the Warwick and Pembroke areas," Ms Smith said.

Mr. Chin asked Smith if that was an accurate description of the street brawl.

Smith said it was but that he had not been with other Warwick men involved in the brawl.

"I was just defending myself," he said. "That's all. I was only fighting in defence because they jumped me."

Smith was given a three month sentence suspended for one year.