Sydney Protest Announced In Support Of Pill Testing & Police Reform

A mobile protest party will take place in Sydney next week, calling on the NSW Government to legalise pill testing and end its controversial strip-searching program at festivals.

Organised by Reclaim The Streets, Keep Sydney Open, Unharm and Students For Sensible Drug Policy, the multi-stage event at Sydney Town Hall, named Dance In Defiance, will kick off at 2pm on November 23.

"No one will ever [stop] people from taking drugs, just ask the Boomers. What we can do is reduce harm by treating recreational drug use as a health issue instead of using our police force to terrorise people who, in most cases, are innocent of any wrongdoing,” Keep Sydney Open spokesperson Tyson Koh said.

“It’s a view backed by health organisations, the parents of victims and now the State Deputy Coroner. Why do we always have to drag this State Government kicking and screaming into the 21st century?"

Dance In Defiance follows a 2000-person protest held earlier this year by the same alliance and has been organised in response to the findings handed down last week by the coronial inquest into festival deaths.