Despite weeks of constant warnings, police say roughly 60 people turned a barber shop in Canarsie, Brooklyn into a nightclub. Some called it a video shoot, but authorities called it a direct violation of the ban on social gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Police arrived and broke up the party, issuing 60 summonses and a 30-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman were arrested on multiple gun possession and other charges.

Some at the scene complained of selective enforcement by the NYPD in the predominantly African-American and Caribbean-American community. However, NYPD Chief of Patrol Terrence Monahan tweeted that police responded to similar crowd complaints at a synagogue in Crown Heights.

> 3 men found dead in hotel used to house coronavirus victims

Mayor De Blasio says that initially, violators will be issued warnings and if they are ignored, fines of up to $1,000 will be issued, and that police and parks enforcement will be stepping up patrols and enforcing social distancing in order to save lives.

Advertisement