Sydney moviegoers evacuate cinema

Fire alarms sent dozens of moviegoers rushing out of a Sydney cinema complex late last night.

Sydney woman Monica Connors, 24, was watching the film Ted when the screen blacked out after the fire alarms started beeping loudly at 11.15pm at the George Street Event Cinemas in the CBD.


PHOTOS: Fire alarms clear out Sydney cinema


After several minutes a staff member came into the theatre and told the audience that they needed to evacuate the building.

“It was really chaotic, we were just kicked out of the cinema,” Ms Connors told ninemsn.

“The first thing I thought of was the Batman shooting.”

Security has been boosted at cinemas across the US since student James Holmes, 24, allegedly entered a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado last Friday and shot dead 12 people and injured 58 others.

In the wake of the massacre, a fight that broke out in a US cinema at the weekend saw panicked patrons rush for the exits.

Despite tensions running high in US cinemas, Ms Connors said moviegoers in Sydney did not appear panicked when the alarm went off last night.

People in each theatre slowly worked their way out to the street, where they waited for about 20 minutes.

“Everyone was asking if there was going to be a refund,” she said.

“It was really more annoyance than a sense of panic.”

Apologetic staff then let ticket-holders back in cinema by cinema to see the end of their films.


More on the Colorado shooting
PHOTOS: Victims of the cinema shooting
Colorado gun sales soar after massacre
New Batman comic delayed
Odd court appearance by alleged gunman
Man takes loaded gun into Batman film: police

Sources: Monica Connors, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Author: Nick Pearson, Approving editor: Fiona Willan

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