Police reinforcements have been brought in after huge, densely packed crowds at Sydney's Vivid light festival prompted safety concerns around the harbour, with people saying they felt trapped in the crush.
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A highly anticipated drone show around Circular Quay on Saturday night saw thousands line the harbour as part of the 23-day festival, with long weekend crowds gathering en masse.
The crush prompted organisers to post on X, formerly known as Twitter, around 8:30pm asking people to avoid Circular Quay.
Following the drone show, one user on X said there was a dangerous crowd crush near the Overseas Passenger Terminal.
"After the 9.10pm drone show finished, there was a crowd crush starting to happen by the overseas passenger terminal," user anthO888 said.
"Police had to step in to remove barriers because of how serious it was."
AAP reporter Scott Bailey said people were squeezed in like cattle with no security or event staff to be seen.
"Was as if organisers didn't account for anywhere near the crowd they got," Mr Bailey said on X.
"Felt as if a stampede was likely for about 20 minutes at bottom of the Rocks and again at Wynyard. So many kids present."
Vivid Sydney said on X that event and security personnel monitor crowd flow on the ground and may implement scalable measures to manage crowd flow at various points if required.
"Particularly on the busy nights and peak periods to ensure all visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience," they said.
"We understand that a large number of people can create a slow and challenging process and are grateful to the public for their patience and co-operation."
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said extra police would be on duty on Sunday night for the second drone show.
'It's an incredibly popular event. It's a long weekend. It's good weather at the moment, people are out and about," he said.
"Police advise that there was a lot of people there, a lot more than expected."
Mr Park asked people not to go to the foreshore unless it was necessary, saying "if you can see the city, you'll be able to see the light show".
"You don't have to be right down there at the foreshore."
Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by the NSW government's tourism and major events agency.
It is an annual celebration of innovation and technology, which transforms Sydney for 23 days and nights.
The event is in it's 14th year.
Australian Associated Press
