Posted on August 22, 2011

Community Groups Take to South Street to Protest Philadelphia’s Crackdown on Flash Mobs

CBS Philly, August 21, 2011

Protestors took to South Street Saturday night to voice their displeasure with Philadelphia’s new curfew laws, calling them draconian, and attacks against Democracy.

The community walk against the curfew was designed to draw attention to what the event’s organizers called a war on the African Community, rejecting the claim that the violence of flash mobs is being caused by black youth.

{snip}

Event organizers pointed to the amount of money that the city is pouring into having an extra police presence on weekends. A main speaker at the protest was independent mayoral candidate Diop Olugbala.

“Through this curfew the city spends more than $56,000 every single weekend. I mean how many youth can be employed from $56,000 being spent a weekend.” {snip}