WA police attacked, but most new year celebrations pass off peacefully | Australia news | The GuardianWA police attacked, but most new year celebrations pass off peacefully | Australia news | The Guardian










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Australia news



WA police attacked, but most new year celebrations pass off peacefully









Trouble erupts in Pingelly, WA, but few arrests among huge crowds in Sydney, and relatively few incidents elsewhere, police say

















A police car damaged in Pingelly, WA. Photograph: AAP



Australian Associated Press


Wednesday 31 December 2014 18.23 EST







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More than 50 people attacked Western Australian police in the early hours of Thursday morning, but New Year’s Eve passed off with relatively few incidents in most parts of the country, police said.
In Sydney 31 people were arrested, down on previous years, and police said they were “overwhelmingly happy” with crowd behaviour.
One man was left with life-threatening injuries after trying to light a firework on Sans Souci beach in Sydney, while two teenage girls suffered less serious injuries when illegal fireworks were detonated in the Victorian town of Lorne.
More than 600 people were arrested in Queensland, but police said the figure was not out of the ordinary. Police were pelted with bottles at a party that got out of control in Cairns.
The worst trouble of the night erupted in Pingelly, 150km south-east of Perth, after a man was arrested for attacking a female officer.
The man had been ejected from the Pingelly Hotel at 1.10am when he allegedly yelled at police officers and was arrested.
Police said he grabbed a female officer by the hair, hitting her head against the ground, and punching her in the head. She was later taken to hospital.
Officers tried to stun gun the man but when it had no effect, they sprayed him with capsicum spray before putting him in the back of a van, police said.
As they did so, a crowd of 50-60 people attacked the van and officers from Brookton police station who had come to help, pelting them with rocks.
At least three police officers were hurt.



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Police watch as people enter the harbour foreshore area in Sydney.
Photograph: David Gray/Reuters


Police said most of the 1.6 million revellers across Sydney were well-behaved through the night.
More than 3,000 officers were deployed across the city, but incidents and arrests were down on previous years, police said.
“We were overwhelmingly happy with crowd behaviour,” a police spokesman said on Thursday morning.
“Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are widely regarded as some of the best in the world, so we were pleased to see Sydneysiders living up to that reputation and acting responsibly,” assistant commissioner Mick Fuller said.
Two men, aged 32 and 37, were arrested at St Clair, in Sydney’s west, over an alleged assault on a police officer at about 12.30am.
The officer was struck on the head and suffered bruising and swelling, police said.
Paramedics helped more than 1,000 people for a range of injuries, mostly due to falls, assaults or intoxication.
One man has life-threatening injuries after trying to light a firework on Sans Souci beach. An explosion occurred, injuring the 29-year-old man. He was taken to St George hospital in a critical condition, with face and head injuries.
A 22-year-old man suffered burns and other injuries to his face while using fireworks at Shelley Beach on NSW’s central coast.
Three men were stabbed during a brawl in Ballarat, Victoria, in the early hours of Thursday. Police were called to the brawl in the suburb of Mount Pleasant at 12.55am.
In Queensland, 636 people were arrested, including 172 for liquor offences, but police commissioner Ian Stewart said celebrations were generally peaceful and uneventful.
Two men, aged 35 and 36, were taken to hospital on the Gold Coast with non-life-threatening stab wounds after getting into a fight around Lakes Circuit at Burleigh Waters. Another man was badly injured in a stabbing at a dam near Warwick.
A 25-year-old man suffered head and leg injuries in a balcony fall at Varsity Lakes at about 3am.
In Cairns, police officers were injured when they were pelted with bottles as they tried to calm an-out-of-control party. Stewart said one person was arrested.
No serious incidents were recorded at Brisbane’s South Bank fireworks, which attracted an estimated 50,000 people, down from the 80,000 organisers had expected.
In Victoria, two men were taken to Ballarat Base Hospital with serious stab wounds, while a third was treated for minor wounds.
In Melbourne a 17-year-old was charged with lighting illegal fireworks at Southbank, and two teenagers were injured after illegal fireworks were detonated at Lorne.
The girls were sitting on the beach with friends when the fireworks exploded and burnt them at 11.10pm on Wednesday.
The 15-year-old suffered non-life threatening injuries and was treated at Geelong hospital, while her 16-year-old friend was treated at the scene.



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