Washington Square Park Curfew Confusion Continues After Saturday's Arrests
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There is confusion over a new curfew at Washington Square Park.
Police have stepped up security after violent clashes Saturday night when the park was closing. But as CBS2's Cory James reported, the curfew didn't appear to be in effect on Sunday night.
The curfew was put in place a week ago, so what happened?
According to the NYPD and the Parks Department, Washington Square Park was supposed to shut down at 10 p.m. But as James reported, there were hundreds of people still in the park as of 11 p.m.
Video from Saturday night captured intense and heated moments as officers tried to get a large crowd of people out of the park by 10 p.m. The footage shows parkgoers fighting back, while police forcefully tried to get them to leave. Bottles are also heard being thrown as well.
The violent clash resulted in 23 arrests.
Some neighbors said because of what happened 24 hours ago, police were backing down Sunday night.
"They're not closing it at all and I think they are getting a lot of blowback. It's scary going in there," Greenwich Village resident Brian Dube said, adding when asked if it bothers him that the park was not being closed down on Sunday, "Yes, it bothers everybody."
"There's way too much policing around open spaces. I don't think policing the parks is going to solve the problems," Morningside Heights resident Bri Vigorito said.
Eight officers suffered minor injuries on Saturday night.
CBS2 reached out to police on Sunday evening to see what type enforcement was going to take place, if any at all, but the only thing said was that the department would have officers out at the park. CBS2 also tried to get answers from the Parks Department, but didn't get a response.
Again, that 10 p.m. curfew in place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays did not appear to be enforced Sunday night.