Havana raided in new offensive
Police raided one problematic Oxford St venue on Saturday night, and promised more will follow in the coming weeks.
Havana licensee Ben Cooper confirmed it was his venue targeted last weekend and he would be replacing his security contractors this week.
Five police squads, including the riot squad, made numerous arrests with charges ranging from assault, malicious damage, resist arrest, and not comply with move on direction to several breaches of licensing conditions.
One security guard was arrested for an earlier assault, with the Security Industry Registry indicating his licence may be revoked.
However, Cooper said there was only one charge against the venue itself at this point, that of a teenage girl intoxicated on her birthday that would result in a fine.
They’re calling it a business audit, and while more heavy-handed than what they’ve done in the past they basically just checked everybody’s licences and RSAs. I don’t imagine there’ll be any ongoing problems, he said.
I know there has been an ongoing issue between police and the security company we had been using to date, but nothing to do with the venue.
He said police recommended he switch to the same security who manage the Exchange Hotel.
Assistant Commissioner Cath Burn said police had stepped up the measures to combat alcohol-related crimes and licensing breaches since October, and this would not be the last of these raids on Oxford St hotels.
We targeted a problem premises and we’ll be targeting more in the next few weeks. We’ve had continuous problems with this venue. If they’re not complying we have to take action, she said.
I think we’re making headway. I can tell it’s making a difference because of the reports I get on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning, but there’s still a long way to go.
Visible policing and covert operations would continue, she said, as would approaching individual licensees about increasing their security and implementing a voluntary lockout.
Most of us like to go to a hotel and have a drink, but we don’t want to be victims. We still have violence to deal with. Just last weekend there was report of a glassing.
One officer attached to the Public Order and Riot Squad suffered ligament damage to his ankle while breaking up an assault.
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some one be onest with me ? if dcm havana didnt have a ethnic ‘wog’ crowd would anyone go through this big hasle of trying to close it down
Havana is one of the best clubs down here in Sydney.
The security is GREAT and the people are GREAT.
If you don’t like it, then dont come near the club.
Obviously if people are going to be intoxicated with alcohol trouble may start, but the same goes with every nightclub right?
Get over it.
i live around the corner from Oxford Street and want the poofs out.. Gayness is a crime of morality.
not to mention i actually watched a drag punch a gf of mne in the back of the hesd after exiting havana at 6 am for no reason!! wat the hell is that?! gay lesbian or straight. oxford st is for all of us. everyone is equal no matter wat sexuality.
As a regular at Havana nightclub i can honestly say there are actually quite a few gay people that do attend havana on a regular basis and NEVER have any trouble. I am bi-sexual myself and am quite happy there. We all go to have a good time and usually do. Yes, there isthe occassinal fight or argument but i’ve seen that in MANY other clubs but becuase there is a lot of ‘ethnic’ people that attend this club is is targeted a lot more than others. I’m not saying this is a racial thing , i’m just saying it csn be used against havana considering all the dramas that occur within that community. A lot of police officers themselves are racist and i have heard them call some guys from havana the most disgusting racist names whilst chatting with them . There must be a better way to go about this. I personally think to help both sides, it should just be moved back where it used to be to avoid such mishaps.
you guys are all fucked.
i luve that club no matter how many fights happened or drama’s there are the seckies do a great job and never need help
at the end of the day fights only happen because someones starts it and just because theres gay clubs everywher doesnt mean there are no fights you just dont see it as bad as havana is !
havana is a great club to party at and the atmosphere of the people are great !
we dont target gay people or death stare every drag or gay person that walks past.
they death stare us as if were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
its good to have a mixture and variety why we being stereo types and stating it should be closed because its on oxford st, we shouldnt be stating certain sections of the city are for gays and certain places are not than that just wont be sydney would it.
you all need to get your heads straight and maybe grow some balls.
if there wasnt drama then cops would be out of jobs.
they’d be just targeting random ppl just so they have soemthing to do !
how would you feel if people were to say you should shut down stone walls or any other gay club stated in the city seeing drag queens walk around the city gay guys making out and girls on the streets in public, them jumping around and prancin on every one as if they own the streets.
no one ever complains about that . ?
.
you all are just ridiculous !
close Havana down and that will go a very long way to returning Oxford St to its rightful cultural owners the Sydney Gay and Lesbian community – A culture that does not resolve its differences with fists knives and guns- get these creeps off our turf.
I walked past Havana on Saturday night and surprise, surprise they still had the same Security guard out the front who has always been there. This is despite the licensee saying he was going to fire the old Security staff and hire new ones immediately. It’s all so dodgy
Clover, why am I forced to wear Bludnstones when ministering good humoured safer sex between Stonewall and The Columbian? Unifersal Joy to MY community.
Love from Hell xoxoxo
“I know and vouch for the boys at the door and inside who do all they can but never seem to get a break” (quoted from the above post). I’m not sure I agree with that statement. I have seen the Security Guards outside havana joking around and not paying much attention… meanwhile the queue for the place is causing chaos on the street, blocking the shop next door and meaning people have trouble walking past. At the same time they let loads of people congregate and cause trouble out the front
As a security gaurd who has worked for UN when it was at DcM and now Havana I have to say that the security boys can only do so much. It was only in October 2007 that the security company I work for had become the contrator for UN while it was at DcM. The security company before was also let go by the owners for some un-known reason. I have to say, of all the venues that I have worked at (strip clubs, Kings Cross and even out West like Collingwood Hotel and the Serbian club), UN was never an easy crowd to monitor, control and predict. You have different styles of music on Friday and Saturday and thus different crowds attend. I know and vouch for the boys at the door and inside who do all they can but never seem to get a break. Havana is a cocktail lounge which does not cater the RNB Friday night crowds and HI NRG Dance Saturday night crowds either. If anything… this type of crowd need a warehouse so to speak. Either way, the boys do a fine job and if we have been able to last for more then a year @ UN/DcM/Havana… then we must be doing something right… right!?
The Hell hole that was T2 ( The Taylor Square Hotel ) is gone …and isn’t Taylor Square a lot more peaceful as a consequence ?…now Close down Havana (it is only DCM with all its social problems moved up the street)and we will be well on the way to returning Oxford st to the gay and lesbian community!
Why is it so hard to see that a club like Havana and the gay clientele are not going to mix well at any time! Clover, this is one time you can take the lead and ensure that the street is made a safer place by removing this kind of venue from the Oxford Street strip. I have nothing against the folk who want to go to Havana for a good time, but I do have a problem when the good time is had by homophobic “sport”.
“Police say that a fortnight ago members of (new Bikie Gang) M.B.M. embarked upon a campaign of random assaults on men who crossed the path of a mob of about 100 toughs stalking Darlinghurst and Kings Cross during the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.”
Full story link- http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-rise-and-rise-of-new-gangs-20090328-9eri.html
Innnnnteresting….. These guys don’t drink alcohol (read story from the link above)- so it was not an “alcopops” problem like the police were trying to make out. Maybe these gang members were p__ssed caused they couldn’t get into Havannah or other straightie clubs on Oxford St while Parade was on?
The Stonewall was put on the Govt lockout… but Havannah wasn’t. All the violence out the front of these two venues by Havannah patrons was incorrectly allocated to Stonewall- & Stonewall copped the lockout.
slim buckets like cooper and his patrons have no respect for our people and community and the sooner the police strip him of a liquor license the sooner we can get rid of him from oxford street. GO BACK TO THE WESTERN SUBURBS COOPER WE DONT WANT YOU
Yes,it can be a bit scary with that Straight nightclub next to Stonewall.The pack of angry young men “Loiter” infront of it giving filthy but rather manacing stares and sometimes verbal abuse to any gay acting or wait for it gay/straight acting single male that walks past them.
You can oil & water and shake it as much as you like,but at the end of the day they won’t wont mix,just like the straight clubs in Oxford street,they just don’t belong there,thanks
simba i am a happy gay man who finds oxford st and the clubs and bars around there very sad.
Assuming of course that this MICHEAL fellow is homophobic, someone please remind him that this is a gay news publication, and could he please keep his comments relevant to the topic, and worthy of the space that they waste.
If we can rid Havana and a couple more of those wretched straight venues from Oxford Street then the changes will be obvious. I have no idea why these straight clubs were allowed to set up shop in the first place. They have the whole of the CBD and suburbia for their trash clients. Time to take Oxford Street back to its roots. Need to keep up the pressure.
I don’t normally feel unsafe when out and about, especially when at stonewall – but with all the violence outside, for the first time in ages I felt really really uncomfortable.
Is Havana even on the top 48 club list? Will this prompt them to be added?
Or should patrons of stonewall just look forward to paying the price for being next door to a club full of homophobic morons?
close oxford st down please!
Close the venue down please!
The manager (and possibly owner) at Havana is the same guy who used to run DCM/UN Sydney. They essentially moved all of DCM’s operations up to Havana when they were forced to close at midnight. It’s therefore no surprise that we are seeing the same problems occurring. It really is time to get these guys off the strip. Thank you to SSO for reporting this issue. I think we need to keep applying pressure to get this place fixed up or closed down and once again make Oxford Street a place where everyone feels safe and welcome
It’s a bit rich for Havana to blame the security company. I don’t know the company’s name, but they were the same group as used at DCMs, so their track record was already well known.
And lets not forget that its the crowd outside that venue that is the main problem. They’re anti-gay, anti-lesbian and anti-drag. They should never have been allowed to move next door to one of the oldest and largest gay venues in Sydney.