Thousands pack Christchurch park for free concert

9:31 pm on 23 October 2010

Thousands of people packed into Hagley Park in Christchurch for a post-earthquake music festival on Saturday.

About 130,000 people attended the Band Together concert in Hagley Park which ran from 11am - 8pm.

Dave Dobbyn, OpShop, and The Exponents were among the 34 acts which performed at the free concert, aimed at lifting the morale of people in Canterbury.

Fifty police officers patrolled the park, some brought in from Dunedin and Timaru for the event.

Police said they were very happy with the conduct of the crowd, considering how many people attended.

Senior Sergeant Neru Leifi says they were kept busy reuniting parents with lost children, and dealing with a handful of people who disobeyed the liquor ban.

About a dozen people were arrested, mostly for breaching the liquor ban or disorderly conduct.

Extra police are also out on the streets of the central city on Saturday night.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred on Saturday, 4 September.