Reclaim The Streets To Host Festival In Protest Of Sydney's Lockout Laws

After the recent uprising this September against Sydney’s lockout laws, thousands are set to gather on Saturday, 12 December, in Newtown, to once again stage a protest against the legislation.

Plans for a free festival for Reclaim the Streets will operate from a multi-stage mobile protest unit across Newtown to demonstrate in public spaces that are otherwise reserved for traffic in protest against excessive rents and curfews surrounding the lockout laws that are set to shut down live music venues across the state.

Across the multiple sound stages, DJs and local bands will come together to perform live music where everything from reggae, techno, drum n bass to sexy queer electro and 70s retro will be involved in a show-out of force against laws that have been taken to blatant draconianism.

"The NSW government has deprived us of a dancefloor, so we’re just going to have to dance in the streets instead," Reclaim The Streets Spokesperson James Loch said in a statement.

"The Lockout Laws are a draconian measure enacted during a manufactured moral panic," he said.

"They unfairly punish young people, musicians and DJs, and are funnelling patrons out of areas marked for property development and into The Star."

This festival comes after the announcement of the NSW’s Government infrastructure project Westconnex Tollway which is set to get underway despite being given the thumbs-down by Environmental Impact Statement experts who have reported this $16.4 billion project may actually increase traffic delays across the city’s key locations and carry less passenger vehicles than the cross-city tunnel due to the expensive toll rates embedded into the project’s plans.

Meanwhile, NSW’s 'New State of Business' will greatly benefit the Casino and property developers whose plans to turn the iconic Powerhouse Museum into harbourside apartments are set to roll out.  

“The NSW Government has shown contempt for democracy with a series of policies that line the pockets of the wealthy and disempower the public,” Mr Loch said.

The NSW Government, last September, allowed businesses across Sydney city each two votes during elections to create a super body to bypass the democratically-elected councils.

“This protest is about who gets to use public space, and who gets a say in what a liveable city is,” Loch said.

Reclaim The Streets will convene at Camperdown Memorial Park on 12 December at 2pm in Newtown.