Aucklanders are queueing up outside one of the city's largest mall ahead of COVID-19 restrictions loosening overnight, in breach of the current alert level rules.
Just hours after the Government announced restrictions would ease and retail stores could reopen, a queue has formed outside Sylvia Park Shopping Centre on Tuesday morning - despite stores not being able to open until 11:59pm.
One concerned Aucklander told Newshub in an email people weren't social distancing.
"A crowd of this size is not even permitted tomorrow after the change in alert levels," he said. "All businesses have suffered and want to get get back on their feet again but this is likely to cause [the] spread of the virus and has the potential to send us all back into another set of stricter alert levels if the rules aren't followed."
Another concerned resident who emailed Newshub described the queue as a "mass gathering" and a clear breach of COVID-19 rules.
Photos and videos, seen by Newshub, show most of the people in the queue wearing masks and social distancing - but Auckland's current Ministry of Health guidelines state only groups of up to 10 people from two households can gather outside.
A Newshub cameraman at Sylvia Park early on Tuesday afternoon said there were about 100 people in the queue.
It's understood the shoppers were queuing for the grand opening of JD Sports, which plans to open at 12:01am on Wednesday.
Sylvia Park and JD Sports have been contacted for comment.
