Culture

Thousands Turned Out To Protest Sydney’s Lockout Laws And They Had Some Very Excellent Signs

"Bairdy did a Baird Baird thing."

by Tom Clift  10 October 2016
Sydney lockouts

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Thousands of people took to the streets of Sydney on Sunday to protest the city’s lockout laws and hang a whole lot of shit on Premier Mike Baird. The second Keep Sydney Open rally saw the likes of Jimmy Barnes and local hip-hop collective One Day throw their support behind the push to repeal the unpopular legislation that has devastated Sydney’s nightlife.

Sydney’s Lockout Laws Could Be Relaxed By A Whole 30 Minutes

Protesters gathered at Belmore Park before marching to Taylor Square on Oxford Street. Police estimated that there were approximately 3,500-4,000 people in attendance, while organisers said the figure was closer to 10,000.

“This is our second rally now, our first one was back in February,” Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh told The Guardian. “We proved then that this is an issue that the people of Sydney were going to fight for and with today’s showing of 10,000 people we’re showing the same thing eight months later.”

The protesters were armed with many excellent signs and placards roasting the state government, and Baird in particular.

The Keep Sydney Open campaign also shared a video of Barnes in which the Cold Chisel frontman said the lockout laws “aren’t working.”

“I made a career playing in live venues in Sydney,” said Barnes. “I learnt my craft playing in those venues…we’ve got to help keep music alive and keep Sydney alive. Let’s find a better way to do it.”

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Feature image via Lee Tran Lam/Twitter