Up to a dozen men were involved in the bloody melee, which held up traffic for several minutes at the intersection of Monaro and Crawford Streets.

One witness, who was Leg 1raising money for Amnesty International, said there were three groups of men in total.

``There were these guys in fluoro shirts and then another group of guys and they just started fighting in the middle of the street,'' she said. ``Then this car pulled up and four guys jumped out and started punching people as well.

``This poor girl who was sitting in her car at the traffic lights was just watching as one guy was getting his head smashed into the front of her car. His face was all bloody and at the end he just limped away.''

The witness also said one man was yelling, ``take his money.''

A crowd of men, women and children lining the footpaths looked on in astonishment as the violence kept traffic at bay in all four directions.

Several people in cars and trucks beeped their horns at the fracas in a seemingly futile attempt to distract the warring factions, while others, who were being inconvenienced by the violence, yelled through their windscreens at the offenders to get off the road.

Eventually several members of the public intervened to restrain fighters and restore calm.

Queanbeyan Police arrived a few minutes after the pugilists had retreated in various directions nursing whatever injuries they had sustained.

Acting Inspector Stuart Young said there were plenty of calls about the fight and police did attend but the combatants had already left the area.

``It was over and done pretty quickly and it appears no one was injured enough that they couldn't run away,'' he said.

However, police are following up on the registration of the car that a group of men had piled out of to enter the fray.

The incident was a sign of things to come as Queanbeyan descended into a night of violence where police were kept busy at a host of establishments.

``There was some action last night,'' Acting Inspector Young said.

``We were kept busy with people having a few drinks and getting rowdy. It was an ordinary night.''