news, latest-news

Foodies perusing next year's Multicultural Festival could find two favourites banned, if one disgruntled festival goer has his way. While 280,000 people flocked to Civic to take in the sights, smells, sounds and – most importantly – the tastes of 170 nationalities last weekend, not everyone was pleased with the grub on offer. In fact, one punter took particular issue with two of the festival's staple dishes - chips on a stick and Dutch pancakes. Matthew Archer started a petition calling on the ACT Government to ban the foods from next year's festival - although it's not their taste which has drawn his ire. "For years as many as 100,000 people have gathered on City Walk to celebrate the multicultural foundations of our great country, however there are certain elements that dampen the festival atmosphere of the event," he wrote. "Chips on a stick and Dutch pancakes are two of the most popular stalls, and are overcrowding the festival with multiple sites, and lines as long as fifty metres. "These lines inhibit crowd movement, causing dangerous bottlenecks on the festival site that pose a serious safety risk to all patrons." He has mooted banning the two stalls for all future festivals, but not just to ease congestion. "I propose that these two stalls be removed ... to help patrons step out of their comfort zone and embrace other cultures they may not have encountered," he wrote. However, the petition had gathered only 21 signatures as of 3pm on Monday. So it would seem the pancakes are safe. It doesn't look like there were too many hangry revellers floating around either, with ACT Policing reporting largely well-behaved crowds. "The mood of the crowd was friendly and only a handful of people were dealt with by police," Detective Acting Superintendent Jason Kennedy said. Several people were taken into custody for intoxication while a 22-year-old Reid man will face court on charges of offensive behaviour in a public place and possessing a knife without reasonable excuse. Police were also investigating three reports of assaults over the festival weekend.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/d1044da6-3501-4322-9a2d-76e744d0d3a0/r13_0_739_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg