Surfers Paradise bouncer Christian Perez warns parents against Schoolies complacency

A Surfers Paradise nightclub bouncer - dubbed “Caribbean Thor” - has warned parents against complacency when it comes to celebrating school leavers.

A SURFERS Paradise nightclub bouncer - dubbed Caribbean Thor - is assuring parents of celebrating schoolies they are in good hands but urges against complacency.

Bodybuilding security worker Christian Perez - who is to Surfer’s Paradise what Batman is to Gotham - also suggested the nightclubs he works at might prove safer than hotel parties.

After all, superheroes can’t be everywhere.

Mr Perez, who works the door of multiple venues and notably broke up a Surfers Paradise youth brawl before starting a shift earlier this year, said he believed this season schoolies should be more wary of drugs than violence, and venues could be a safer option than celebrating in a hotel room.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Christian Perez, alias the Carribbean Thor. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“There are plenty of police around this year, and yes they outweigh the number of schoolies but dark things can still happen on a night out, I have seen them first hand,” Mr Perez warned. “There shouldn’t be a false sense of security.”

Options are limited for schoolies as the Queensland Government scrapped official celebrations due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“I have seen an increased number of dealers or at least people who look like they are dealing around over the weekend. I think they are trying to take advantage of the situation,” he said. “But the real potential for danger this year is celebrations are happening behind closed doors.

“I see it all the time. Friends let someone go with a random who tells them ‘I'm gonna take them home safely’, and they let it happen just cause they want to stay partying.

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“But that is when the bad stuff can happen. It is wrong, and it is the entirely the fault of the perpetrator but it is a fact that bad things happen this way.

“No-one else is there ready to step in at a party or get together in a random room, there aren’t bouncers or bar staff. So sometimes it is better to be a party pooper for one night and not carry it on elsewhere.”

Chief Supt Wheeler said the number of school-leavers descending on the Gold Coast had increased overnight, but partygoers had been well behaved.

There was a beach party which almost 200 people attended in Surfers Paradise, but no offences were committed, he said.

“ It wasn’t a planned event. It was a bunch of young people having an impromptu gathering on the beach.

“Plenty of police (were) monitoring that situation.”

There were also no reports of accommodation being stacked with people, which is a breach of COVID-19 directions and can attract a fine of more than $13,000.

“We are not walking around every hotel or knocking on every room,” Chief Supt Wheeler said, but added police would respond to any calls from accommodation providers about the issue.

Mr Perez has warned parents to stay vigilant. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

He said the officers didn’t want to be the “fun police” and were well prepared for any graduates on the Coast.

Further south Byron Bay is preparing for an influx of Victorian school leavers to stream over the NSW-Victoria border after it reopened just after midnight, almost 140 days since it closed.

NSW Police officers and Liquor and Gaming NSW inspectors have warned they will be out in force, despite Byron Shire Council initially warning school leavers to stay at home in the coronavirus crisis.

Tweed Byron Police Superintendent Dave Roptell warned the riot squad would be on call.

Originally published as Surfers Paradise bouncer Christian Perez warns parents against Schoolies complacency