Punters Attack Police At Deni Ute Muster

Two police officers were injured during crowd chaos across the weekend at the 2017 Deni Ute Muster.

The annual event held in southern NSW hosted more than 15,500 people across the weekend with sets from Lee Kernaghan, Shannon Noll, The McClymonts and more, but things took a turn on Saturday night.

In a Facebook statement, Deniliquin Police said they were escorting fire trucks onto the site to extinguish several fires lit in drums when they were “peppered with projectiles such as eggs, bottles, sauce, and other objects”.

One officer had dirty diesel oil thrown over them while two others were hit by shrapnel from an exploding butane gas can that was thrown into a fire.

All injuries have been described as “relatively minor” and Deniliquin Local Area Commander Superintendent Paul Condon has slammed those involved.

“Unfortunately, the small few seem intent on spoiling the event for the greater majority, because any level of assault on our Police is simply unacceptable,” he said.

“The Police are there to keep people safe and behaving in a safe manner and to have them attacked for striving to achieve this goal is simply disappointing.

“As in previous years, Police will now work closely with members of the Ute Muster Committee to ensure that the 2018 event is even further improved to ensure that similar incidents don’t occur in the future.”

There was also a rise in drug offences from last year, going up from eight in 2016 to 28 this year, with police stating most drug detections were “located in searches of vehicles attempting to enter the Ute Muster Festival”.

Police said that overall behaviour was “generally good” and was similar to that of last year.