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Dozens of people packed Circular Quay to see the Love is in Air drone show at around 9.10pm.
The show features 700 drones creating “stunning symbols of love, including a love heart, Cupid’s arrow, flowers” over the harbor, according to Vivid organizers.
Spectators criticized the festival’s lack of crowd control after people became trapped, forcing police to remove surrounding barriers.
Crowd levels were reported to be on par with New Year’s Eve celebrations as extra people turned up over the long weekend.
A mounted police unit was called and an ambulance was seen at the scene as crowds tried to make their way from the overseas passenger terminal to Wynyard station.
Spectators who came to the event last night told 9News they were overwhelmed by huge crowds.
“Yeah, we just came off Argyle Street and there was a huge crowd of people and we were like, oh my God, I’ve never seen so many people on the rocks,” one woman said.
“Heaps of people like pushing and people with pushchairs and prams.”
“It’s full. Yeah, I can’t put a number on it. There will be, you know, thousands and thousands of people,” said another.
Earlier Saturday, Vivid posted on X, formerly Twitter, advising people to watch the show via live stream instead.
“We have very large crowds for the Vivid Sydney drone show tonight,” the organizers wrote.
“Please avoid Circular Quay.”
In a statement, police told 9news.com.au officers helped “a large crowd leave Circular Quay”.
“The larger than expected number of attendees has resulted in pedestrian congestion, particularly in and around transport hubs; however, the crowds dispersed after a short period of time and there were no reports of injuries or incidents.”
“NSW Police continues to conduct a highly visible and co-ordinated police response to this year’s Vivid event.”
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