Despite the wind and the rain, tens of thousands of revellers threw a little glitter on their hunchbacks, honey, and went dancing last night in celebration of the 35th annual Sydney Mardi Gras. The event is this morning being described as better behaved than in recent years, with fewer arrests made from a crowd who reportedly exhibited “generally good behaviour;” not unlike these two fabulous, beneficent [pretend?] Popes.
Some 96 of the 200 punters who were searched for drugs during a four hour sniffer dog operation at the festival’s official after party at Moore Park were charged with possession. A further seven were arrested for either assaulting police or displaying offensive behaviour.
One man in particular was arrested in relation to the theft of over $10,000 worth of party tickets, and around 40 partygoers required medical attention throughout the evening, probably because they literally died when Beyoncé came on the sound system.
Police this morning released a statement saying that this year’s figure of seven total arrests compares well with the 10 arrests made during last year’s Mardi Gras; a number significantly down on the 18 made at the 2011 celebratory shindig, and the 35 who shut it down in 2010.
Meaning that Mardi Gras should be drug and arrest free by 2015.
Progress.
via SMH
Photo by Brendan Thorne via Stringer/Getty
