Festival Receives Multiple Complaints After Police Strip Searches At Debut Sydney Event

Organisers of Hidden Festival have told The Music they've received five complaints regarding police conducting strip searches at its Sydney event earlier this month following an initial allegation that one female attendee was subjected to an illegal search.

The festivalgoer alleged on social media that she was illegally strip searched by police for over an hour at the festival, which held its Sydney debut at Sydney Showground on 2 March, and was rejected entry into the festival despite being found with no illegal substances. 

NSW Police have confirmed to The Music that an internal review is underway following a "complaint".

When contacted by The Music, Hidden organisers issued the below statement:

"The safety and wellbeing of our patrons has always been the priority when planning all events and extra consideration was taken with the Sydney event, working under the NSW guidelines.

"Under these guidelines, we were required to give NSW Police rights to refuse entry and remove patrons from the event.

"We have received five complaints from our Sydney patrons regarding police strip searches on the day. Hidden do not condone the alleged actions and treat this matter very seriously. We never want our patrons to feel uncomfortable or unsafe. 

"NSW Police were not operating under the directive from the festival and these alleged incidents were unfortunately out of the control of Hidden organisers."