Leaked document shows Boiler Room is "weaponising police against Pro-Palestinian protesters", allege activists

EDIT (July 30, 2025): Following the posting of the original version of this article, Boiler Room shared a comment, which we have added in its entirety within the body of this article.

Several months into a building boycott of the broadcaster/promoter Boiler Room over its parent company, KKR Investments, an internal document has been leaked that outlines the company’s policy towards protests surrounding its events.

Boiler Room has, since its acquisition by KKR-owned Superstruct Entertainment in January of this year, seen a growing number of protests and boycotts around the world.

The protests come from groups aligned with the struggles of Palestinian people and of the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders, who are First Nations people from British Columbia, Canada, challenging the construction of the KKR-linked Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Read: Boiler Room releases statement addressing its Israel-linked ownership following growing boycott

The document circulated online as of Sunday, July 27 AEST, was “passed on” by an unknown source seemingly involved with the running of Boiler Room’s Toronto event earlier this year. Thus far, it has been circulated primarily across social media by online protest groups such as Boycott Room and Rolling For Palestine, with further analysis by several other individual activists.

A post shared by K I Z Z Y K O N D O R (@kizmet32)

The document appears to have been sent to the company’s global event and promoter contacts as a means of addressing “potential event disruption, principally via protest.” The document is from Q1 2025, at a time when Boiler Room had only seen two major protests against its operations, outside of its events in Toronto and Rotterdam.

Most notably, Boiler Room’s document suggests that staff at their events be conscious of:

“Distinguishing between the areas where security is permitted to manage vs areas that should be overseen by local authorities/police etc.

Essentially, we would prefer that the local authorities/police manage the areas and space that sit outside event production responsibility.”

The presence of police at venues varies in relevance across different countries worldwide. In Australia, police presence at large-scale events and festivals is most often seen as a deterrent and consequence for those bringing illicit drugs with them. As a result, working amicably alongside police is, for most Australian promoters of a decent size, an expectation.

However, for Boiler Room to have shared this directive to worldwide staff has become a point of critique from many activists like Praxis Archives, who claims that by doing so, Boiler Room is "weaponising police against Pro-Palestinian protesters" protesting their events.

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EDIT (July 30, 2025): The following comment by Boiler Room, shared following the posting of the original article, has been inserted in full here.

"It is a total misrepresentation to say that an internal production team’s safety document calls for “weaponising police against pro-Palestinian protesters”, when the document is used to support people’s right to protest and to do so in safety," the company shared on Mixmag ANZ's Instagram post.

"The document referenced outlines where the event security responsibilities end and the local authority’s begins - a standard event production practice for attendees safety.

Private event security has no right to manage situations outside of the venue’s authorised perimeter and it’s vital that in the case of a protest in public space, private security does not intervene.

Boiler Room does not and would not intervene with peaceful protests either inside or outside any of our events."

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A post shared by Praxis (@praxis_archives)

In a post on their Instagram, activist Praxis Archives provides a real-world example of this by highlighting the process they would need to undertake in Toronto. They share that, in Toronto, an organiser must complete a ‘Special Event Emergency Action Plan (EAP)’. In completing this plan, event organisers need to provide risk assessments to assist in identifying “safety or security concerns”. Within this application, the City of Toronto shares its commitment to “a hate-free environment”, with specific reference to its “Hate Activity Policy” which “prohibits harassment, intimidation and physical force or threat of physical force motivated by hate, bias or prejudice directed at anyone on City property.”

Praxis Archives highlights that at Boiler Room Toronto protests in January, “police were already present before the protest began. There were upwards of a dozen Toronto Police Services cruisers in front of the entrance of the venue.” They appear to insinuate that this would have been the result of Boiler Room’s ‘Special Event Emergency Action Plan (EAP)’, identifying a risk of “safety or security concerns” in line with the City of Toronto’s policies.

Pro-Palestinian movements across the globe have continued to fight, with greater difficulty, against accusations of hate. The UK only recently deemed activist group Palestine Action to be a terror organisation. In Australia, recent media coverage of protests has been criticised as using claims of anti-Semitism as a means of misrepresenting key story details. This includes reporting on alleged arson at an Israel-linked weapons company, and a protest at the Naarm/Melbourne restaurant Miznon, owned by an Israeli businessman who has served as a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, subject of widespread condemnation amid numerous reports of Israeli forces killing Palestinians in the vicinity of its distribution centres.

In a statement released in March of this year, Boiler Room claimed that its editorial mission is “led by the communities we serve, we empower the artists, DJs, creative minds, risk takers, and community leaders to highlight causes and tell stories from the inside out.”

Comments across the posts sharing the document highlight concerns that this editorial policy falls out of step with Boiler Room’s approach to protests at their events. While this document is not “intended to be the event’s overall Method Statement or Risk Assessment,” nor does it address many other protests which have occurred since it was released, the presence of a leak such as this and its growing virality online suggests a growing movement against the brand.

In recent weeks, Boiler Room has shared highlights from a variety of its shows across South Asia, in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Within posts promoting all of these events, commenters have raised questions about the timeliness of these highlights, particularly in countries with contexts of colonisation and occupation, at such a sensitive time for the brand.

Read: Activist interrupts Boiler Room's NYC event amid growing protests

Boiler Room just last week announced its lineup for an appearance in Naarm in November of this year. Currently, the only local artists featured on the bill are C000KIE and Osmosis Jones.

Australia’s festival and large-scale event landscape is notoriously filled with red tape, with many festivals unable to get off the ground as a result of the cost and difficulties associated with interacting with emergency services, specifically the police. Police are regularly stationed at large-scale dance events around the country, and the presence of police at Boiler Room’s Naarm event would not be unusual.

However, with growing distrust of Boiler Room around the globe, it remains to be seen whether a similar policy will be implemented to deal with potential protesters within Australia, and whether police will take action.

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Jack Colquhoun is Mixmag ANZ's Managing Editor, find him on Instagram.