Hundreds gather for secret rave under New York bridge, reports say
Hundreds of people gathered for an “illegal” rave underneath the Kosciuszko Bridge in Brooklyn on Saturday night, ignoring social distancing measures and coronavirus restrictions, according to reports.
Footage circulating on social media appeared to show massive groups of people dancing underneath the bridge at the unauthorised rave in Greenpoint.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who last week hit out at a drive-in concert hosted by the Chainsmokers for ignoring social distancing rules, took to Twitter on Monday again to condemn large gatherings.
“Huge parties whether on land or boat are: illegal, disrespectful, violate common decency, rude. Aren’t those enough reasons not to be stupid?”, the governor said.
Gov Cuomo also acknowledged the bridge rave during a press conference on Monday morning, echoing the same sentiment that large parties are irresponsible and illegal.
Footage of the rave, first reported by website Guest of a Guest, showed hundreds of people dancing in close proximity, many without masks and no social distancing.
Gothamist reported that the event was organised by a group called Renegade who said that they had initially asked attendees to donate to Legal Aid Society but admitted that the event “got out of hand”.
However, the organisers reportedly defended the intentions behind the event when speaking to the website.
“If you think people aren’t going to gather, you’re a fool—there’s no stopping that,” one of the organisers reportedly told the outlet, asking to remain anonymous.
“My friends are being forced to go back to work with thousands of employees. New York is back open. Stores are open, the subway is open, the parks are open, people are trying to go back to normal.”
“At least we’re telling people to wear a mask,” the organiser added.
The organiser told Gothamist that bottles of water, masks, and hand sanitiser were handed out to party-goers for free.
However, an attendee who identified himself as Seb, told the outlet that as the night wore on the event became a “huge rave dance party” with no social distancing and a decline in mask-wearing.
“I would not do that again. All the friends I went with said we’re going to self-quarantine for a week or two, it was too soon for way too many people in one spot,” Seb reportedly said.
New York City, which became known as the epicentre of the virus during the first few months of the outbreak in the US, has seen 230,000 confirmed cases of the disease and 23,000 deaths.
Over the last two months, the state has managed to maintain a low infection and death rate and avoid a second wave.
However, officials fear that surge’s in cases across the US and preemptive relaxation of measures to prevent the spread of the disease could lead back to the city and trigger a second outbreak in the city.
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