Lessons Learned, Crowds Controlled at Sydney’s Vivid

Preventative measures have been taken at Sydney’s Vivid light festival in order to avoid a repeat of the bottlenecks that left thousands of people trapped and fearing a stampede or crush. Police reinforcements were brought in after thousands of people crowded the harbour precinct to see a highly-anticipated drone show around Circular Quay on Saturday night. The “stampede” on the night came about after long weekend crowds flocked to the event. NSW Premier Chris Minns said authorities did not anticipate the size of the crowd on that night. Festival organisers and NSW Police worked quickly to learn from the mistakes and undertook a major walk-through to ensure spectators felt safe for the remainder of the free community event....