The crowd _ thought by police to be students _ descended on the Hoyts Cinema on Moorhouse Avenue at 4pm on Saturday.

Kate Gorman, 35, said she was waiting to see the film Enchanted with her two children when the trouble started.

"At least 50 drunk idiots dressed up like Santa came in through the main door," she said. "They were kicking things over, ripping down posters and smashing everything in sight."

She said the group came in through the main entrance and made their way through the foyer before leaving the building from one of the cinemas and triggering a fire alarm.
"They were all dressed as Santa and shouting `Ho f...... ho'," said Gorman.

Her children, Gabriella, six, and Jackson, seven, had been confused by the incident, she said.

"They asked me, `Are they Santa's helpers gone crazy?' and I said `No, they are just idiots'.

"It wasn't a nice thing to do."

Cinema manager Derek Rive called the group hooligans.

"How often do a bunch of Santas just go and wreak havoc?"

The men did most damage to cardboard cutouts advertising films, he said.

"I wouldn't say there were any huge costs involved. It's more the inconvenience and the disappointment for the other people who were there."
He said the public had to leave the cinema for about half an hour while the Fire Service dealt with the problem.

Christchurch police said they had been called to the incident but no arrests had been made.