As if we needed another reason to hate the coppa dogs. Footage has emerged of the NSW police allegedly shutting down a group of innocuous dancers at Vivid this weekend.
At 10:30 pm on Saturday night, Christie Aucamp-Schutte took to the streets of Sydney clad with a sign, a boombox and an itching to dance. This was not Aucamp-Schutte’s first rodeo, she frequently hosts these Free Dance Party’s. The aim of the Free Dance Party is to start random dance sessions in the street with passersby. “Sometimes one person will dance and sometimes 50 will,” she shared with Music Junkee. It’s unbelievably wholesome.
Unfortunately, after less than an hour of dancing, police and rangers approached Aucamp-Schutte, notifying her that she needed to immediately shut the Vivid dance party down. When she asked if they could finish the song, the police refused, urging the dancers to “turn it off” and “move along.”
A video shared on Facebook has captured the incident, within the video Aucamp-Schutte detailed that the party was in a non-residential area, in a wide blocked-off road, and those participating were acting in a safe manner. You can watch footage of the incident below.
https://www.facebook.com/christiedanceparty/videos/2824905490870619/
A spokesperson for Property NSW has issued the following statement:
“To ensure visitors to all the precincts can enjoy Vivid Sydney in a safe and secure environment, the event organiser and precinct landowners have agreed crowd management measures in place to mitigate any activity impacting on pedestrian thoroughfares, especially on the busier weekend evenings.
“As the activity on Friday night was unfortunately obstructing the pedestrian flow, the land owner, along with police and security, respectfully asked the performers to move on and no fines were issued.
“We want people to enjoy Vivid Sydney in a safe, secure environment and we appreciate people understanding and respecting the measures we have put in place to ensure a great time is continued to be had by all.”
