The gentrification of the Cross was set back a year last night with wide news coverage of eight people being arrested after a brawl that closed Darlinghurst Road for a time.
Reports named Cronulla League captain David Peachy as one of those arrested -- apparently he had been at a Christmas function to raise money for disadvantaged kids and two members of his family later got into a punch-up. Peachy got involved trying to break it up and was one of four released without charge.
An interview with a man who was working at Maccas at the time offered a different slant to the police reports.
On 702 radio this morning he said police were 'really pissed off' at a crowd that was clapping and cheering the brawl. He repeatedly said 'junkies' were present and that they showed absolutely no fear of the cops. He didn't explain how he identified them as junkies. A bottle had been thrown and a policeman was injured in the leg when he fell on the broken glass. The brawl may have spilled out from a 'club' behind the C-store opposite Maccas, he said.
Our sympathies to the injured policeman, and to others who are spending a fortune trying to portray the Cross as a family-oriented Christmasy outpost of middle-class blandness. And it's good to see the effectiveness of our local police in dealing with real trouble under difficult conditions.
3 comments:
How to identify a junkie.
They eat Mc Donald’s
If the police had constant foot patrols and managed the licensed venues in the area better, this situation would never happen.
When is Council and police going to realise that they have lost control of the Strip ? Strangely enough, if they do not commit resources to constant 24 hour management of the Strip, these occurrences are going to continue ?
I sympathise with police injured in the brawl but I sympathise more with locals who have to live amongst the threat of violence 7 days a week.
By the description of the club location involved, it sounds like Stripperama, which is opposite Macca's. This doesn't surprise me in the least, as there are brawls and altercations outside there all the time.
I cannot wait to see what is going to happen when 'Heroin Plaza' outside Hungry Jack's is opened again. This looks like it will be a fabulous location for the continuing networking and distribution of drugs.
Commander Cullen - Please get the message and put a kiosk in this area to establish police presence.
Sticking to the facts, though -- the locals in this case were not hurt or alarmed, but treated it as entertainment. The brawl happened at midnight , when all of us less adventurous locals were safely tucked up in bed -- as usual.
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