The latest in the increasingly nightmarish saga that is the people of Sydney vs. the fun police involves, unsurprisingly, the actual police.
Club owner Matty Bicket posted a pretty shocking account on Facebook this morning, alleging that last night, Club 77 in Darlinghurst was raided for no exactly no reason, with local cops reportedly using a Taser at least once. No arrests were made, but the cops allegedly stuck around to intimidate and remove club patrons.
The post has been liked more than 1200 times and shared more than 180 times, with many people sharing their own stories of intimidation and discrimination at the hands of the NSW Police.
Sydney: a global city of innovation and culture ?? pic.twitter.com/tWvM3pxeKS
— Sandro Dallarmi (@Sandrolami) May 28, 2017
Bicket told PEDESTRIAN.TV that the raid seemed to be a clear indication of the worsening situation between Sydney’s entertainment industry and the powers that be.
“We haven’t had an all out raid like this in a long long time.“A lot of people were taken out of the club, searched and interrogated including our headline act from Melbourne but no arrests were made […] A lot of these people were also told they weren’t allowed to come back into the venue, even though no evidence of drugs were found on their person.”
When asked if he thought there was a reason Club 77, which Bicket calls “an all inclusive, all walks of life space“, was targeted, he said:
“To be honest, I don’t think Kings Cross police have a lot to do anymore, and a chance to do these kind of operations justifies their presence. I also believe that because they were unable to make arrests or anything was a big reason why they returned later in the evening and inspected the venue for a second time.”
Keep Sydney Open has used this incident to call for locals to “have a very serious conversation about police conduct and their use of taxpayer-funded resources.”
Meanwhile, owners, organisers and industry workers like Bicket are calling on the Sydney community to continue to agitate for their right to run their businesses without police harassment.
“We really urge our community to keep fighting for us, other creative spaces and themselves,” Bicket told us. “Sydney needs your help.”
Source: Facebook / Matty Bicket.
Image: Zak Kaczsmarek / Getty.
