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Bigger crowd, fewer arrests at Defqon.1
GEMMA SEYMOUR AND RODERICK SHAW
22 Sep, 2010 03:59 PM
THERE were a few thousand more revellers at Saturday’s Defqon.1 festival at the Regatta Centre than last year but fewer arrests.
A spokeswoman from Q-dance Australia, the company behind the massive dance-music festival, said the day-into-night event went smoothly.
‘‘I think everyone was ecstatic,’’ she said. ‘‘Everything went so well. We’ve reaped the rewards of great consultation, fantastic goodwill in the community and a lot of preparation.’’
There were 18,000 dance-music fans who attended the large-scale event, 3000 up from last year.
The event, which up until last year had been held in Holland, also attracted international visitors to Penrith.
The spokeswoman said a community hotline set up to field calls from residents received four genuine noise complaints.
‘‘We were monitoring the sound very, very closely all day,’’ she said.
She said they generally received calls about buses — and also a call in the evening from a mother congratulating them on a well-organised event.
Penrith police said that they arrested 75 people charging 63 with possession of drugs, four with supplying drugs, two for affray and one over an outstanding warrant for fraud.
The rest were charged over minor offences. Police also seized large amounts of cash from several people and are investigating how they obtained it.
There were significantly fewer arrests than at last year’s festival, when police detained 100 people. More than 250 officers were deployed, some to supervise traffic.
A Penrith police spokesman said the fewer arrests this year was a sign ‘‘the right message is getting through’’.
The Q-dance spokeswoman said they had been advised there were two men taken to hospital — one suffering a seizure, one was drunk.
Last year, five people were taken to Nepean Hospital.
