BALTIMORE (WBFF) — What was meant to be a celebratory weekend at Baltimore’s AFRAM Festival instead turned chaotic Saturday night when a massive fight broke out, bottles were thrown, officers were injured and many festivalgoers fled.
“The headline should’ve been ‘look how many people came out for this 50-year celebration,’ You don’t have this headline. You have people on social media uploading videos talking about how bad it was,” WCBM radio host Kim Klacik said.
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In response, the city declared the park a “civil unrest zone” and sent officers from across the city to help keep the peace.
On Sunday, the city barred minors from attending the festival unless they were accompanied by an adult.
A few hours earlier in Fells Point, gunshots injured an 18-year-old and sent others running.
“Somebody’s going to get killed just from the stampede,” Ron Furman, Owner of Max’s Bar and Grill, said.
Two days earlier, another round of gunfire erupted in the area. Police arrested a 16-year-old with a handgun and ordered crowds to disperse.
“There were thousands of people down here and there were open containers of liquor, teens screaming, twerking,” Beth Hawks, owner of Zelda Zen, said.
For years, business owners have called on the city for stronger enforcement in Fells Point, but there has been no declaration of a “civil unrest zone” there and no restriction on minors, who routinely flood the district late at night.
“People need to be held accountable,” Furman said.
At one point, business owners threatened to withhold their tax payments until the city helped restore order.
“I think it’s something they really should employ again and I really do believe the mayor doesn’t care about keeping those businesses in Fells Point. They’re going have to make a statement,” Klacik suggested.
Klacik predicts the city will pay a heavy price for failing to take a more aggressive approach in Fells Point.
“We’ve been dealing with this for years on end and the fact that local leadership is not getting it under control. This is why we see the numbers. I mean you see middle class Black families leaving in droves because civilized Black Americans don’t wanna live with uncivilized Black Americans,” Klacik said.
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