Police are urging people in the Newcastle area to celebrate safely and responsibly this weekend, with several large-scale events, including three music festivals taking place across the region.
\nTwo music festivals will take place on Saturday 16 March 2019 \u2013 \u2018The Drop\u2019 Festival at King Edward Park and \u2018Live at the Foreshore\u2019 at the Newcastle Foreshore. While \u2018Up-Down\u2019 Festival will also take place at the Newcastle Foreshore on Sunday 17 March 2019.
\nA high-visibility police operation will be in place at each of these festivals including officers from Newcastle City Police District, with assistance from specialist units including the Dog Unit, Licencing Police, and Police Transport Command.
\nThese events fall on the same weekend as three big sporting events in Newcastle \u2013 the Newcastle Knights will play their first game of the 2019 NRL season against the Cronulla Sharks at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday 15 March 2019. While the Newcastle Jets will play in the F3 Derby against the Central Coast Mariners at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday 16 March 2019, and thousands are in town for the finals weekend of Surfest at Merewether Beach (Friday 15 March \u2013 Sunday 17 March 2019).
\nNewcastle City Police District Superintendent, Brett Greentree, says officers will maintain a strong presence at these events, targeting anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
\n\u201cThousands of people are expected to attend all these events across three busy days in Newcastle, and police from both general duties and specialist units will be patrolling the venues, targeting anti-social behaviour, and the supply and possession of illegal drugs,\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to see Newcastle as a busy spot for sporting and music events, but we want people to enjoy these events safely. We\u2019re regularly reminded of the negative effects alcohol and drugs can have on people\u2019s health and behaviour, we will be targeting those intent on bringing any illegal substance into the events.\u201d Superintendent Greentree said.
\nAnyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or who feels unwell, is urged to seek professional medical attention.
\n\u201cThe weather is forecast to be wet all weekend, so revellers are encouraged to look after one another, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water \u2013 not alcohol, and keep safe and dry in the weather conditions.\u201d Superintendent Greentree said.
\nAnyone attending these events is asked to utilise public transport and plan your trip ahead of time. Visit www.transport.nsw.info for the latest timetable and ticketing information for trains, buses, ferries, light rail and taxi ranks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police are urging people in the Newcastle area to celebrate safely and responsibly this weekend, with several large-scale events, including three music festivals taking place across the region. Two music festivals will take place on Saturday 16 March 2019 \u2013 \u2018The Drop\u2019 Festival at King Edward Park and \u2018Live at the Foreshore\u2019 at the Newcastle … Continue reading “Thousands expected at several large-scale events at Newcastle this weekend”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}