Wellingtonians are waking to the first day in nearly a month without anti-mandate protesters occupying Parliament grounds and surrounding streets.
It comes after a violent day that saw protesters light fires, throw bricks and clash with police. Eighty-six people were arrested in the chaos and seven police officers were injured.
Speaking to AM on Thursday, NZ Police Association President Chris Cahill said some officers suffered "significant injuries".
"My understanding is that the officers have significant but not serious injuries," Cahill said. "Overall they were probably pretty lucky given what we saw yesterday that there weren't very serious injuries."
Wednesday's protest was the most violent of the 23-day occupation with police in full riot gear and fire and ambulance staff responding.
Cahill said overall officers were well equipped to deal with the protesters, but he wants a review to make sure frontline police agree.
"That's something I certainly want to review with the officers who were there. What I will say is there were different teams, some with the full riot gear… Others with just shields."
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said frontline officers did an incredible job in very difficult conditions.
Coster said officers suffered a variety of injuries but are doing okay.
"We have a couple of head injuries, a chest injury, leg injuries, so a variety of things but given the violence we saw yesterday, we were very fortunate there was nothing more serious," he told AM.
Coster said the violence escalated late yesterday when the majority of peaceful protesters had left, leaving just 50 to 100 people who were "spoiling for a fight" and prepared to use "really serious violence".
Videos from the scene showed protesters lighting fires and throwing their personal items and bricks dug up from the footpath at police.
The Police Commissioner defended police's use of force, calling it an example of "restraint and professionalism".
"Even yesterday the force we used was well short of the force you would expect to see in many places. I didn't see a baton used yesterday, we avoided tear gas, we only lifted the levels of force when it was required to manage the crowd. The restraint, professionalism and courage of our people - you won't see a finer example anywhere in the world."
However, footage taken from protesters appears to show officers repeatedly punching a protester who was lying on the ground.
Coster said police tried to de-escalate the situation for as long as they could, but protesters forced their hand.
"It had moved from peaceful protesters to, in our view, a hardcore group who were spoiling for a fight and we needed to fix that situation.
"In the end, occupations don't improve with age and we saw that. Things were declining and we were left with no option but to act."
Coster said a lot of peaceful protesters left days ago because they were concerned by the shift in behaviour.
When asked who the hardcore group were, Coster said they were "a whole mix of different people".
He said Wednesday was a "sad day" for New Zealand.
"None of us wanted to go there, however, I am also very proud, our team did an awesome job."
Protesters have challenged the police's view of the protest accusing them of using unnecessary force. Pepper spray also appeared to be used yesterday by both sides, with video evidence of both sides spraying substances.
The violence on Wednesday has been criticised by politicians across the board.
