Wednesday 11th June - Page 4

Zombie outing not a walk in park for some

Story and photo: Rob Lockyear

A young woman was rushed to hospital with a suspected broken neck after a crowd-surfing incident went wrong at this year's Brisbane Zombie Walk.

The 19-year-old was knocked to the ground at the walk's finishing point at Centenary Place in Fortitude Valley by a man dressed as a zombie chef.

Event organiser Cara Westworth said it was the last in a string of incidents - including zombies spitting and smearing fake blood onto shop windows, and harassing people not involved with the walk - that marred the otherwise successful event.

"It goes without saying that the walk needed people to use their common sense in order to make the day enjoyable for everyone, and it's sad to see that there were a few people intent on causing as much trouble as possible," Ms Westworth said.

Ms Westworth said the failure of a police escort to turn up contributed to the problems.

"I believe many of these incidents could have been avoided if we had the police guiding the walk along its route," Ms Westworth said.

A police spokesperson said that before the start of the walk a police officer contacted Ms Westworth to confirm the number of participants and their intentions. Operational police from the city were then redeployed to higher priority matters.

One police officer took up a position on the route but had to attended to aperson who had collapsed. He later rejoined the walk.

"While following the procession the officer did not observe any criminal activity and monitored the behaviour of the participants along this section of the route," the spokesperson said.

The injured woman was released from hospital without permanent injury.