REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Friday April 2, 2004

POLICE planned to ‘sandbag’ the Orchid Avenue nightclub strip to stop any flood of violence and hooliganism outside nightclubs, which were forced to close two hours earlier.

Inspector Jeff James said Orchid Avenue would be closed to traffic because of ‘the likelihood there will be more people on the streets between 2am and 4am’.

He said police were not expecting any serious trouble.

Extra police were rostered on to patrol Orchid Avenue which was to be closed from 1am to 5.30am for the three nights.

Angry nightclub owners said the extra police presence would cause ‘bedlam’. They hired five private investigators, accompanied by video crews, to record liquor licensing and police movements during the first major test of the new closing laws.

Four of the busiest Surfers Paradise nightclubs, including the two most popular on the strip, Shooters and The Drink, were ordered to close their doors at 3am, instead of the traditional 5am.

They claimed the decision would cost jobs and make Surfers Paradise even more dangerous.

Police and the city council recommended to the liquor licensing division that four nightclubs be pulled back to 3am closing and the rest be subjected to a post-3am lockout.

The Surfers Paradise Licensed Venues Association blamed Mayor Gary Baildon and Surfers Paradise councillor Max Christmas, targeting them in an aggressive advertising campaign during the election.