Updated 9.12am: It's hoped New Brighton is now free of its freedom campers.

A number of them packed up and left yesterday, after the Council posted no camping signs in the carpark they'd taken over.

Councillor Glenn Livingstone says Council staff have taken a firm but reasonable line, telling campers it's time to move on.

"I've had an incognito conversation with a couple of the freedom campers there. They realise that the game is up and they're gone, and I've just got my fingers crossed that that's it."

Glenn Livingstone says the Council can only go as far as the law allows, and staff have done well.

He says emotions have run high and they've tried to keep the situation as level as possible.

Frustrations with the misbehaviour of the campers hit a new low when a Christchurch Press photographer was allegedly threatened with a knife.