Police in New Zealand have turned down requests by Otago Council to remove protesters saying they have no legal right to do so.

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The Occupy Dunedin group has been living in tents in central Dunedin's Octagon. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Legal experts have commended the police decision not to evict Occupy Octagon protestors, despite the council issuing trespass notices last week.

The Dunedin City Council issued trespass notices on the protestors, who took up camp on October 15, however after considering their legal position for the past week, police have opted not to enforces the notices.

Dunedin-Clutha area commander Inspector Greg Sparrow said the trespass notices did not meet "the test of balancing the rights and freedoms of all parties", and the protestors' actions do not justify police action at this stage.

Otago University law professor Andrew Geddis was not surprised by the police decision.

"The particular notices that council gave were very light on specifics as to why it was actually necessary or why council regarded it as necessary to move them on," he said.

"Effectively it said that the protestors were in breach of a camping bylaw, but just because a protest breaches a bylaw doesn't take it out from underneath the umbrella of the Bill of Rights Act.

"A bylaw in itself doesn't stop protest."
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