A Hobart gym has been pelted with rocks, bottles and even dinner plates covered in food in a series of escalating attacks that the owner believes are linked to music played during multicultural dance classes.
Artgym owner Eilish Kidd said the incidents had been happening sporadically for about a year but had intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with the Wednesday night Bollywood dance class bearing the brunt of the attacks.
“Over the last month, every Wednesday night, rocks have been thrown at the building,” Kidd told Pulse.
A window was smashed during one class at the Barrack Street gym and when staff cleaned up the damage, the same window was smashed again later that day or the next causing thousands of dollars of damage.
This week, instructor Pratik Vhatkar went outside with his phone after hearing noises on the roof during the Bollywood class.
“He’s like, ‘Is there someone up there … is someone throwing something?’ and then they threw rocks down and broke the windshield of his car,” Kidd said.
She said the rocks being thrown were palm-sized and could seriously injure someone.
Kidd said she believed the attacks were driven by someone aggravated by the music, noting the classes most targeted were dance-based sessions with prominent beats, including Bollywood and K-pop.
“It’s not the way to deal with it. It’s literally gonna hurt someone,” she said.
She says the gym, which has operated for six years, had five trouble-free years before the attacks began.
Kidd said objects thrown at the building had also included onions, perfume bottles thrown three weeks in a row and plates “complete with someone’s dinner on them.”
Police reports have been filed and officers have attended.
Kidd said the broader community had been supportive, with one neighbour offering his balcony as a lookout point.
She described Artgym as a creative, inclusive fitness space that had intentionally sought out culturally diverse classes.
“We really want people to feel at home here and there are a lot of different cultures in Hobart that we wanna incorporate into our space,” she said.
“It kind of feels like people have to be wary when they’re walking in and out at the moment and that’s not what we want Hobart to be.”
Tasmania Police were contacted for comment.
