Police pleased with Sydney NYE crowd behaviour after Clover Moore’s ‘hard’ fireworks decision

Sydney’s controversial fireworks raised more than $2 million for disaster relief as police commend NYE crowd behaviour.

Ships passing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sydney Harbour at the end of the Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Tuesday, December 31, 2019. AAP Image for City of Sydney/Lukas Coch

Police are happy with the “well behaved” New Year’s revellers who turned up to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Sydney, despite one man found with $10,000 worth of cocaine and other arrests.

Revellers flocked to the harbour after Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore went ahead with the city’s iconic New Year’s Eve fireworks despite protests as deadly fires burned across Australia.

Ms Moore said the decision to proceed was ‘hard” during a “sombre” time for Australia.

“Last night’s program was very sensitive. It was hard for us to just proceed with this amazing event in the face of what was happening. But we made that commitment and honoured it,” she told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

The council said the event raised over two million dollars for the Red Cross disaster relief appeal, with people continuing to donate.

Ms Moore said the event was attended by one million people around the harbour and crowd numbers were similar to previous years.

Crowds filled up areas around the city and foreshores to watch the 9.15pm fireworks, that were delayed due to strong winds, and midnight fireworks with some at capacity by the late afternoon.

Light and colour exploded over the heads of adoring crowds lining the city’s harbour as Aboriginal electronic duo Electric Fields – using Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and English – led off an all-Australian playlist.

Ms Moore said no adjustments would be made in planning for next year’s display, but council would assess the situation if necessary.

Ms Moore said the bushfires had been a wake up call for 2020.

“It’s been horrific these last few months and we know there is more to come as early as this Saturday. The big goal for all us in 2020 is to work hard to make sure our governments to take effective action to reduce our emissions and to minimise this impact of accelerating global warming.”

Arrests, cocaine haul

Although police say New Year’s Eve partygoers were generally responsible, one man was arrested with 37 bags of cocaine and another was allegedly stabbed.

After the 21-year-old allegedly returned a positive reading for cocaine in a random breath test, police searched his car and found bags of the drug that weighed 27.3g.

Police said they allegedly found the drugs and cash in a hidden compartment when he was travelling on Heffron Road in Pagewood.

NSW police charged eight other people with a range of offences throughout the night, including assaulting police and offensive behaviour.

Another man was allegedly stabbed in the back as he celebrated the new year on George Street.

Police believed it was a random attack.

Operation New Year’s Eve 2019 Commander Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing APM, said overall police were pleased with crowd behaviour,” he said.

“The fact that there were only a few reports of alcohol-related violence is a true reflection of how well-behaved crowds were.”

Strong winds caused one boat on Taylors Bay to flip and send four passengers into the Harbour water.

Officers from the Marina Area Command safely pulled all four people out and had to assist a number of other groups.

The 21-year-old who was charged with drug offences was refused bail and will appear in court late January.

More than 150 council staff members began a clean up of the city’s streets at 2am, working as 2020 dawned.

With AAP