Why Long Branch, NJ was forced to impose emergency curfew Friday night
🔴 Long Branch vowed legal action against organizers of a pop-up Friday in Long Branch
🔴 1,000 people still showed up for the party
🔴 A 7:30 p.m. curfew in public places was instituted to get people off the street
LONG BRANCH — A pop-up party took place Friday night despite legal threats from the city that would make organizers pay the costs of additional police and cleanup.
Mayor John Pallone Friday said in a statement that the organizers of a party promoted for Friday removed all posts and invitations but an increased police would remain.
It wasn't enough to stop approximately 1,000 people from heading to Long Branch Friday night, Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told New Jersey 101.5. The city instituted a 7:30 p.m. curfew for all public areas and Pier Village was closed and most of the crowd was were cleared from the beach area by 9:30 p.m.
A 24-year-old Trenton man told The Link News he heard about a meet-up in Long Branch and came to have a good time.
"I guess we had too much fun for them so they tried to kick us out and tried to shove everyone on the train," the man said standing at the Long Branch NJ Transit station.
Business Administrator Charles Shirley told New Jersey 101.5 that the city will follow up on its legal threat over Friday's event.
"In addition to the city’s civil remedies, the penalty for conducting an event without a permit are a maximum of $2,000 and up to 90 days incarceration," Shirley said.
There were four arrests for disorderly conduct on Friday night, according to Shirley.
Party on NJ Transit
A teenager from Trenton told The Link News he saw fights on the beach before police started "kicking people out."
Many of those coming to the party arrived via NJ Transit's Jersey Coast Line and were sent back to the train.
The crowd was much smaller than a pop-up party that drew 5,000 to Pier Village in May 2022.
Dan Alexander is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com
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