Police say New Year’s celebrations around the country passed without major incident, albeit with 41 arrests, though wet conditions at the top of the South Island prompted the precautionary evacuation of dozens of festival-goers as river levels rose.
A police spokesperson said that in the Cobb Valley, near Tākaka, they assisted with the evacuation of 80 to 100 festival-goers from the Twisted Frequency festival because of rising river levels and flooding in low-lying paddocks.
A representative of the festival posted on local community pages last night asking for dry blankets, warm socks and heaters.
“The roads are all passable,” the police spokesperson said.
Police said that, in Auckland, revellers were generally well behaved, with eight arrests but no significant issues reported.
Large crowds were also present in Ōmaha and Raglan, particularly around beach and surf club areas; however, no significant issues were reported and no arrests were required in Ōmaha.
In Whangamatā, crowds were larger than last year, with an estimated 3500 to 4000 people gathered at Williamson Park. The spokesperson said the atmosphere was positive and the crowd was generally well-behaved, with 12 arrests and some liquor ban infringements handed down.
In Mount Maunganui, in the Bay of Plenty, fireworks were fired into crowds, posing a spark and fire risk. No injuries were reported, and there were no other significant events.
Overall, 17 arrests were made across the Western Bay of Plenty, primarily for disorder and fighting.
The spokesperson said Gisborne/Tairāwhiti also saw no significant issues, with police successfully preventing planned large gatherings by antisocial road users, and no issues reported at the popular festival Rhythm and Vines.
In Christchurch, behaviour was mostly good, with no issues at the Hagley Park concert and only minor incidents at the Rolling Meadows Festival.
One arrest was made in Queenstown after a 19-year-old man broke a shop window, while a 29-year-old man was arrested in Wānaka for disorderly behaviour and assaulting police.
Dunedin also saw a good-natured crowd in the Octagon, with just two arrests in the CBD over the evening.
A 40-year-old man was arrested for assault in a family relationship, and a 35-year-old man for breach of bail, assaulting police and resisting arrest.
Hato Hone St John ambulance staff were “significantly abused” at a call out in Auckland over the New Year’s Eve shift – prompting a reminder from the first responder service around how to treat the people sent to help in an emergency.
Spokesman Dan Ohs was “pleased to report” the service had “a significant reduction in workload compared to previous years” but some patients were still problematic.
“We attended 177 incidents, which is about 40% lower than what we would normally see on a New Year’s Eve and can be compared to sort of your average Saturday night from our perspective,” Ohs said.
“We had 156 frontline ambulances and 22 rapid response units deployed, supported by operational managers in an on-call framework.”
The busiest areas were the upper North Island, particularly Auckland and the wider Western Bay of Plenty area.
Ohs said “about half” of the incidents attended involved people with “life-threatening problems”.
“And down on previous years, only about 6% of our callouts can be directly attributed to alcohol and drug use,” he told NZME.
“Overall, last night, it appears the public were well-behaved.
“Unfortunately, we did have a significant event in central Auckland where our crews were significantly abused by a patient they were trying to help – and we do remind everyone that when we turn up to help, that’s exactly what we’re there to do and we empower our crews if they’re getting abused or assaulted to just leave the scene, and that’s exactly what they did.”
Ohs said staff were seeing a “high incidence of recreational drugs creating problems” – particularly in the Auckland community.