Police have spoken out after viral videos showed Pacific Islander security guards and king hitting Summernats attendees – to call the festivalgoers “morons”.
While ACT Police have promised to investigate several reports of assaults by security guards, Acting Inspector Mark Richardson saved his strongest words for the attendees of the four-day festival.
“The real car enthusiasts are not the problem, it’s the moron tourism that we get,” he said.
“If we set up an IQ-testing station at the border instead of a vehicle-testing station we’d halve our problems.
“We have a fair idea where these events are going to occur, but the behaviour of these drivers, they just haven’t evolved very far; I think they’ve really plateaued as a species, a sub-species of the human race.”
About 130,000 people attended the annual Canberra event, and 2,500 cars entered Canberra Exhibition Park over the duration.
Police said they made two arrests, impounded 13 cars and issued over 100 defect notices.
Videos posted on social media appeared to show groups of men brawling, including some wearing pink “crowd safety” vests.
Shocked witnesses said the scenes were “disgusting” and “neanderthal”, according to 7News.
Watch the report on the violent scenes below:
