This article was updated at 11 p.m. Sunday.

This year's West Indian Caribbean festival at Exchange Place in Jersey City came to an abrupt end Saturday night when a fracas broke out between the crowd and police officers, and a main organizer of the event was arrested.

At the heart of the dispute was what time the festival, which featured music, food, and dancing and was being enjoyed by hundreds of people, was supposed to end.

The police maintain the cutoff time was 7 p.m. while festival organizers say their permit allowed them to operate until 8 p.m.

A permit given to The Jersey Journal by Philip Carrington, the vice president of the event's organizing committee, appeared to indicate the parade and carnival was scheduled to run until 9 p.m.

The permit was issued by the city's Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, and signed by Maynard Woodson, the director of the department.

In addition, Carrington produced a voucher to hire an off-duty Jersey City police officer from 3 to 8 p.m. that night.

Shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday, police and a fire inspector arrived at Exchange Plaza and told organizers the party was over, according to Hasan Ahmed, a member of the event committee.

Gordon Callender, 22, one of the main organizers of the event, approached the officers and fire inspector and "began to yell and curse at the inspector," according to police reports.

Callender then "charged off the stage and came toward the officers" and told police "The music is staying on till I say so," the reports said.

It was then that an officer grabbed Callender's left arm to "remove" him from another officer, and Callender pushed the officer back, according to reports.

But Ahmed, who watched the entire confrontation unfold, said officers "escalated" the situation and used "excessive force" with Callender.

When officers tried to arrest Callender, people in the crowd entered the fray, and during the tussle several officers had their badges ripped from their uniforms, according to reports.

Police then immediately shut down the carnival.

The way the festival ended, was "devastating to us," said Ahmed. "To have it end on such a sad note ... is really upsetting.

"It makes us feel like, what's the point in getting a permit," he added. "If we have a permit, they are supposed to honor it until the permit is over."

Callender was charged with disorderly conduct, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest, among other charges.

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