Court Refuse To Hear Case Against NSW Police's Threat To Ban Punters From Syd Dance Event

Greens MP David Shoebridge has claimed the party's attempt to seek an injunction against NSW Police's threat to deny entry to any punter undertaking a drug search into Above & Beyond's show tomorrow night has been dismissed by court as "hypothetical".

"The court determined not to hear the matter because no-one’s rights had yet been abused, and the case was considered 'hypothetical'," the statement reads.

"It's now up to the NSW Police to either pull their head in, or find themselves back in court next week if they refuse entry to festivalgoers following a false-positive from a drug dog."

Shoebridge said that despite the ruling, NSW Police are "on notice" for the gig scheduled to take place at Sydney Showground. 

read more:

• Fans Blast Police's Drugs Warning Ahead Of Above & Beyond's Sydney Gig

• NSW Police Taken To Court Over Threats To Ban Punters From Sydney Dance Event

"Young people should not be threatened with being refused entry to events just because a drug dog has falsely indicated the person is carrying drugs," he said. 

"While obviously it would be preferable to stop the police before they breach someone’s rights, we are fully prepared to have them back in court next week if they do. 

"From what we’ve heard from the police we’ll likely be back in court next week."

See the full post below.

Above & Beyond will perform in Melbourne on tonight before moving on to Sydney; click on theGuide for more details.

UPDATE:

The Greens' Sniff Off campaign and Reclaim The Streets Sydney have joined forces and announced a protest in response to NSW Police's drug search threat, set to take place next month. 

The rally will commence outside Sydney's Downing Centre Courts from 2pm on 21 July. 

"These dogs are wrong almost 80% of the time. After a humiliating strip search, four out of five of us will be barred entry through no fault of our own," a Reclaim The Streets spokesperson said.

"The war on drugs has clearly failed and is in its death throes if the police are getting desperate enough to ban people who don’t even have any drugs.

"At a time where Sydney’s nightlife is increasingly under stress from government overinvolvement, reckless and harmful policies like these are only going to exacerbate the problem."

Check out the Facebook event page here.