FOURTEEN men were arrested after two fights in a Newport suburb late on Sunday and several of them needed hospital treatment.

An incident which began at 10.45pm in the car park at the Friendly Fox pub on Garth Hill, Bassaleg, is believed by police to have flared up again shortly afterwards, a little more than half-a-mile away in the Church Crescent area.

It is understood that baseball bats may have been used during the incident.

Several people were taken to the city's Royal Gwent Hospital as a result of the violence. One person was detained with suspected broken bones, while others were treated for superficial injuries. Now police are appealing for witnesses to the incidents.

Sergeant Lee Myson of Gwent Police, based at Bettws police station, described the incident as "large scale".

"It started in the Friendly Fox car park, where a taxi was quite badly damaged, then spilled over into the Church Crescent area at about 11.15pm, where a violent incident took place," he said.

Police officers began the lengthy task of interviewing the arrested men - aged from their early 20s upwards - yesterday afternoon to try to determine the reason for the incidents.

"There is an allegation that a weapon or weapons were involved, but our inquiries are at an early stage and are ongoing," said Sergeant Myson. These appear to have been very serious incidents, and we would ask that anyone who witnessed either the Friendly Fox or Church Crescent confrontations contact us as soon as possible on 01633 245348."

Nine men were charged with public order offences and will appear in court next week.