Chaos unfolded at Sydney’s annual light show Vivid Sydney overnight as thousands of people crammed onto the harbour foreshore to catch a glimpse of the drone show.
Scores of people packed Circular Quay to view the Love is in the Air drone show about 9.10pm.
The show features 700 drones creating “stunning symbols of love including a love heart, cupid’s arrow, flowers” over the harbour, according to Vivid organisers.
Spectators have criticised the festival’s lack of crowd control after people became trapped, forcing police to remove surrounding barriers.
The crowd level was reportedly on par with New Year’s Eve celebrations as additional people turned out over the long weekend.
The police mounted unit was called in and an ambulance was spotted at the scene while crowds attempted to walk from the overseas passenger terminal to Wynyard Station.
Spectators who turned out to last night’s event told 9News they were swarmed by massive crowds.
“Yeah, we just came down from Argyle Street and there was just a massive crowd of people and we were like, oh my God, I’ve never seen this many people in the rocks,” one woman said.
“Heaps of people like pushing through and people with prams and trolleys.”
“It’s packed. Yeah, there’s I couldn’t put a number on it. There’d be, you know, thousands upon thousands of people,” another said.
Earlier on Saturday Vivid posted to X, formerly Twitter, advising people to instead view the show via livestream.
“We are experiencing very large crowds for Vivid Sydney drone show this evening,” organisers wrote.
“Please avoid Circular Quay.”
In a statement, police told 9news.com.au officers assisted ”a large crowd in leaving Circular Quay”.
“Larger than expected attendees resulted in pedestrian traffic congestion, particularly in and around the transport hubs; 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 coordinated policing response to this year’s Vivid event.”
