As previously reported, it has been an unusual lead up to this year’s Mardi Gras.

First, the festival’s annual Fair Day was cancelled following an asbestos discovery at Victoria Park.

But parade organisers have also had to grapple with how to hold the festivities amid an outpouring of grief within Sydney’s gay community, following the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

With constable Beau Lamarre-Condon charged over the men’s murders, some – including The Sydney Morning Herald – argued it was inappropriate for NSW Police to march in this year’s parade.

After initially opting to ban the police float, Mardi Gras organisers have, following discussions with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb and Police Minister Yasmin Catley, now decided police can march in plain clothes.

But the presence of police at Mardi Gras, which began in 1978 as a protest that ended in LGBT people being arrested, has always been highly controversial.

Last night, 300 people took part in a snap protest at Taylor Square, organised by the Pride in Protest group, calling for police to be banned from the parade.

Following reports of hostile interactions between police and protesters, Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich has called for calm.

“We don’t need anyone stoking division or conflict,” Greenwich said in an interview on Weekend Today on Saturday.

“My message to anyone planning any kind of stunts throughout [the parade] is: please don’t.”