This article was first published by RNZ.

The Police Minister says he’s “not surprised” by reports of gang members blocking streets, banging on cars, and barking.

Police have warned of potential traffic disruption from a gang-related funeral in the Wellington area on Tuesday.

On Monday, businesses on Randwick Road in Moera reported a significant gang presence.

One worker told RNZ the gang had cut off a small street, but police claimed no streets had been blocked.

RNZ had also heard of gang members banging on cars and barking.

Minister Mark Mitchell said he wasn’t surprised by the behaviour because “the Mongrel Mob are idiots”.

“That’s the way they behave, they’re antisocial and they think that they are above the law and they think that they run the place and that’s why we’ve come out very hard against the gangs.”

But he was adamant police had things well in hand.

“It relates to the death of a vice president of the Mongrel Mob, the police have got lots of resource responding to this and from what I understand they’ve got good control of it.

Police had the resources they needed to manage the tangi, Mitchell said.

“The gangs need to understand they’re no longer running the streets.”

He said police had changed their approach to such events under the coalition government.

“There’s been a big change in the way that they do them, there’s no longer standing back and filming and maybe doing some follow up action, they’re actually, they’re arresting people, they’re seizing vehicles, they’re actually enforcing the laws as we would expect them to do.”

And when the gang patch ban law comes into force in a few weeks, Mitchell said he expect that to be enforced at such events too.

Visible police presence

The funeral is due to take place in Lower Hutt on Tuesday morning, with a procession to Whenua Tapu Cemetery in Porirua.

Hutt Valley prevention manager Inspector Shaun Lingard said police had a visible presence in the Lower Hutt area overnight and would continue to monitor the procession today.

“Unlawful activity will not be tolerated and any unlawful behaviour will be investigated and followed up with enforcement action.”

Lingard said there was likely to be disruption to traffic in Lower Hutt, particularly around Moera, in the late morning and in Porirua and State Highway 58 in the early afternoon.

“Motorists should expect some temporary disruption and should plan accordingly.

“If you are concerned about your safety, or witness illegal behaviour happening now, please call 111 immediately.”

- RNZ