The majority of officers on the ground at Parliament's anti-mandate protests agree using force to remove demonstrators isn't a viable option, Police Association president Chris Cahill says.
Cahill told AM a balance has to be struck between negotiating with protesters and using aggression so tensions don't boil over.
Tensions did boil over on Tuesday morning, with three police officers needing medical attention after being sprayed with an "unknown substance" while one person was arrested for allegedly attempting to drive a car into a group of cops.
The tensions were in response to police officers in riot gear moving concrete blockades forward to reduce the size of the protest perimeter around Parliament.
"I think this will be a reaction to police putting those blockades in place," Cahill said. "So they are basically drawing a line saying, 'You're now inside the protest, you'll stay there but we aren't allowing additions to it.'
"It's to limit the growth, it's to try and contain it within set borders and then slowly negotiate - and it's going to be difficult. I spoke to dozens of officers down there yesterday - I didn't find one that thought police using force to remove them was a viable option.
"Whilst incredibly frustrating for the residents and those businesses in that immediate vicinity, it's the nature of the beast that we're dealing with at the moment."
The general consensus was that officers supported the police strategy, Cahill said.
"There are some questions [about] how it was allowed to get so big and I think that's something that needs to be addressed in the future, but in the meantime, we have to deal with what's in front of us - but they were supportive. The idea that you could go in there and use force to remove those protesters, they all rejected."
Frontline officers wouldn't be willing to use the level of force required to remove the protesters, Cahill said.
He said the New Zealand public likely wouldn't accept it either.
But Cahill echoed comments by authorities that the protest needed to end.
"These protesters have had their say, they need to go home. They're not helping the situation at all."
