Minns: Vivid crowd control ‘not good enough’

NSW Premier Chris Minns has acknowledged that efforts to control crowds that swamped Sydney Habour after a headline Vivid Sydney drone show were “not good enough”.

Festivalgoers reported feeling “trapped”, with fears of a crowd crush as people attempted to leave Circular Quay once the Love Is In The Air drone show finished about 9.10pm on Saturday.

Speaking on Today, Mr Minns said while it was a “fair criticism”, organisers and NSW Police had learnt from mistakes, and there were fewer problems on Sunday.

“(It’s) not good and not enough,” he said.

“I can understand when people are doing it tough … when you’ve got free entertainment and an opportunity to get out with your families, (they’re) going to take it up.

“We’ve got to make sure that they’re safe when they do it.”

Mr Minns added that NSW Police had undertaken a “walk-through” on Sunday morning and adjusted road closures and crowd barricades to ensure the same issues didn’t occur later that night.

He said with one drone show remaining on June 15, he hoped families could “get out there and enjoy it”.

Following Saturday’s crowds, people took to social media to vent their frustrations.

One attendee, Anth, said in a post to X that “there was a crowd crush starting to happen by the overseas passenger terminal” after the 9.10pm drone show finished.

“Police had to step in to remove barriers because of how serious it was,” he wrote.

He described the incident as “absolutely dangerous”.

Another festivalgoer, Josh Rogers, said he was trapped in the middle of the crowd.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared in my life,” he wrote.

“Everyone pushing from all sides with no escape.”

Another attendee, Emilie, wrote that she was sorry she went to the event.

“A huge crush saved by a random opening a barrier,” she wrote.

“Bloody lucky no one panicked. The worst crowd control.

“No co-ordination, direction & clearly untrained crowd management staff …”

The reported incident came shortly after event organisers posted to X about 8.30pm advising festival goers to avoid Circular Quay.

“We are experiencing large crowds for the #vividsydney drone show this evening,” the post read.

“Please avoid Circular Quay

“The show will also be live streamed at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour on the big screen and on the Vivid Sydney Facebook page.”

Health Minister Ryan Park said extra police had been deployed during the second drone show on Sunday night.

“It’s an incredibly popular event. It’s a long weekend. It’s good weather at the moment, people are out and about,” he said on Sunday.

“Police advise that there was a lot of people there, a lot more than expected.”

Mr Park said people didn’t need to go to the foreshore to see the show.

“We’re saying to people that if you can see the city, you’ll be able to see the light show,” he said.

“You don’t have to be right down there at the foreshore.”

Despite the crowds, NSW Police said no injuries had been reported and crowds were dispersed quickly.

“Larger than expected attendees resulted in pedestrian traffic congestion, particularly in and around the transport hubs,” a NSW Police spokesperson said on Sunday.

“However, the crowds dispersed after a short period and there were no injuries or incidents reported.”

“NSW Police continue to conduct a highly visible and co-ordinated policing response to this year’s Vivid event.”

A Vivid Sydney spokesperson said it worked with government partners and agencies to plan and deliver a successful and safe event.

“Event and security personnel monitor crowd flow and implement scalable measures to manage crowd flow at various points if required, particularly on the busy nights and peak periods,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes advising visitors that certain areas have reached capacity and adjusting infrastructure to support crowd flow.

“We encourage our festival attendees to plan for their Vivid Sydney visit and stay up to date including via our social media channels and the digital signage around the footprint.

“We understand that a large number of people leaving a major event at the same time can be slow and challenging and are grateful to the public for their patience and co-operation.”