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The UNSW Riot

Riot police used pepper spray on a teenage girl after breaking up a brawl at an under-age dance party at the University of NSW last night. Shortly after 8pm police and ambulances were called to the event and more than 3000 teenagers were forced out of the After Dark Under 18s party at The Roundhouse at the Kensington campus of the university.

Witnesses said a gang started the fight inside the venue, in which weapons including a pool cue were used. Partygoer Melissa, 17, said the fights involved a number of rival gangs from Sydney's southern and eastern suburbs. "It started in one corner then there were fights here, and fights and fights and fights," she said outside the party. "It just started with one and then everybody just started hitting each other."

When police arrived they shut the party, billed as "Sydney's hottest under-age event", by turning the sound off and the lights on. The teenagers then streamed out of the venue and on to Anzac Parade, many unaware why they were being asked to leave. One teenager said she had seen police use pepper spray on her friend.

Manager of the University of NSW Roundhouse, Shelley Valentine, said police had been forced to use capsicum spray to quieten the crowd because there were "so many warring parties ... that it got out of hand". Ms Valentine told Southern Cross Broadcasting that the organisers' own security operators had moved the fights outside the Roundhouse venue when they broke out about 8.30pm, and had joined police outside.

"We took our security out into Anzac Parade as well and worked with police in order to disperse them," she said. "Police basically took it from there when we took them outside the venue." She agreed the fracas had resembled a "rolling punch-up".

Ms Valentine said about 1500 tickets had been sold and tickets were available at the door for the event, which was being held during the school and university holidays.
She said organisers had been prepared to continue with the dance party following the brawl, but had been told by police to close the doors. Witnesses said some teens at the event had been drinking prior to entering. This was despite organisers refusing entry to anyone who appeared drunk.

The Herald witnessed at least a dozen drunk teenagers milling around at nearby bus shelters late into the evening. At least a dozen security guards hired by After Dark formed a cordon at the Anzac Parade entrance of the campus and refused to let any of the teenagers inside. They did, however, allow students from the university to enter and leave.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Amidst all that chaos, i was right there at the UNSW tennis courts right opposite the roundhouse where the brawls first broke out. There was a helluva lot of shouting/screaming, frantic running all over the place before the sounds of the sirens engulfed the commotion. With the cops chasing em drunk teens out of campus, a couple of scantily clad girls spilled onto the tennis courts, which only brightened up an otherwise dull night of tennis. Lol. If only i had my phone with me, i coulda like taken exclusive clips of the incident and sold em to the papers here or some shyt like that. Lol!

Tackled By The Red Devil at 9:39 AM,
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