Busy night for police in central Wellington

Wellington Police were kept busy overnight as thousands of people converged on central city nightspots to celebrate New Zealand's win in the NZI Sevens.

Inspector Kevin Riordan, commander of the police operation for the Sevens, said it was a huge night for crowds in the Courtenay Place area.

"It's too hard to estimate how many people gathered in the city after the games finished but they were generally well behaved considering the size of the crowd and the amount of alcohol that some had consumed," he said.

Thirty two people were arrested between 10.30pm and 7am today, mostly for disorder and alcohol related offences.

Inspector Riordan said police maintained a very visible presence overnight in the city. The pedestrian only zone from Tory Street to Cambridge Terrace worked well although there was some vehicle congestion around the street detours.

At the stadium itself, 12 people were arrested yesterday and 28 evicted.

"We were reasonably pleased with crowd behaviour at the Sevens. It was noisy and colourful but most people seemed to have a good night," Inspector Riordan said.

Police made 30 arrests at the stadium over the two days and evicted 76 people.