Police and drug dogs out in force at Listen Out music festival
DRUGS and police were everywhere at Listen Out music festival at Sydney’s Centennial Park today, in the wake of the deadly Defqon. 1 festival where two people died earlier this month.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TEETH clenched, a young man approaches me.
“Oi bro, are you on?,” he says. “Can I get some caps?”
It’s early evening at Listen Out, Sydney’s first major dance music festival since two young revellers died at Defqon. 1 a fortnight ago — and drugs are everywhere.
This party boy is asking for MDMA, but he won’t have to search for long.
Littering the floor of toilets are empty condoms; a sure sign, according to police, that drugs have been smuggled in to the festival.
Dozens of uniformed police spent yesterday afternoon and evening patrolling the 35,000-strong crowd, with three sniffer dogs alerting their handlers to the presence of drugs by gently tugging with their teeth on the clothes of a patron, then sitting on the ground behind him or her.
After a brief discussion, which was typically civil, those patrons suspected of carrying drugs were marched out by undercover police — a routine repeated approximately every 15 minutes through the afternoon.
Two of the young men marched out wore head-to-toe black Carhartt outfits with bum bags slung over their shoulders.
Australian house and techno producer Fisher made a joke during his performance he’d taken ecstasy at the festival.
“I’m a few googs deep,” he said.
The police presence was most visible when gates opened at 1pm, including outside the venue.
One patron denied entry to the festival pushed a male police officer in the chest, at which point six uniformed officer jumped on him and pinned him down with their knees while he was handcuffed.
Immediately inside the gates 18 uniformed police kept an eye over the main pathway that funnelled the crowd between the main gate and concert arena.
The undercover police, kitted out in Rusty T-shirts, flat-brim caps and Herschel backpacks did their best to fit into the hip young crowd of 20-somethings, although one’s decidedly uncool New Balance sneakers may have given him away.
One young woman turned heads in a full leather red jumpsuit, as did another wearing a diamanté encrusted gold bikini and gold glitter covering her skin.
The most common outfit for girls was a bra as outerwear, with an optional sheer blouse, and a miniskirt or short shorts.
The men’s outfits were more predictable, typically jeans or cargo shorts with a Hawaiian-style shirt and Converse or Vans sneakers.
A small minority of men wore the sort of low-cut RVCA singlets associated with the Defqon and Stereosonic concerts and a handful wore Defqon. 1 merchandise.
Inside the venue, uniformed police outnumbered security guards by at least three to one.
Police were called on to keep crowds at bay on several occasions paramedics were forced to treat unconscious people and help stretcher them out.
During American rapper A$AP ROCKY’s performance, the public order and riot squad had to escort paramedics through the mosh pit to retrieve a young woman who’d been injured but couldn’t escape the crowd.
She emerged in a wheelchair 10 minutes later sucking on a pain relieving green whistle.
Paramedics were also kept busy wrapping foil blankets around young women who didn’t dress appropriately for the brisk 14 degree night.