By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
On early Sunday in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, two raves packed with a total of over 280 people were busted. The raided parties took place only days after Mayor Bill de Blasio had warned that the neighborhood was seeing a worrisome increase in coronavirus cases. As reported by the NY Post, the New York City Sheriff’s Office got a tip there was an illegal event at a house at 466 47th Street after midnight. The police found over 180 people inside, as per law-enforcement sources. The three organizers were arrested, and the alcohol was confiscated. Several summonses were also doled out for social-distancing violations and for serving alcohol without a license.
That rave led authorities to info about a second gig in a close by warehouse at 214 51st St., at roughly 2 a.m., sources told the Post. That scene had more than 100 people inside, with some violating social-distancing rules. The two parties were not connected, sources said.
The sheriff’s office tweeted photos of the raid on the 51st Street location. The photos showed the police stationed outside the door, and another showed the police carrying out confiscated boxes of boos into their vehicle. The tweet’s caption read, “Organizer was arrested & charged with multiple alcohol beverage control law offenses and violation of local emergency law. Alcohol stock was seized”.
Twitter users slammed the revelers, who attended the parties following the mayor’s warning of a recent jump in positive-test in the neighborhood. David Greenfield, head of the anti-poverty MET Council, added his surprise at the gigs saying, “Interesting. Just days after NYC officials announced coronavirus numbers spiked in Sunset Park…”
The neighborhood saw an “uptick” in cases, with 228 people testing positive for COVID-19 in the past two weeks, out of the 3,300 residents that were tested. “It’s over a very limited period of time, it’s a very limited number of cases,” de Blasio said at his daily press briefing on Wednesday. “We now have a warning light. We have a sign there’s something going on we want to know more about,” de Blasio had said describing Sunset Park.
