Detroit police swarmed businesses participating in Detroit’s Cinco de Mayo festival on Sunday, dispersed crowds, and detained at least seven people, prompting one city councilwoman to question whether the actions were “racist” and “xenophobic.”
Witnesses say officers went door-to-door on West Vernor in Southwest Detroit, clearing out restaurants, El Club, sidewalks, and parking lots — and threatening attendees with arrests if they didn’t disperse.
Making matters worse, police are unable to say exactly what precipitated the brazen sweep early Sunday evening, raising questions about whether the aggressive measures were justified.
By contrast, some pointed to the lack of police activity during the NFL draft in downtown Detroit late last month, when 275,000 fans — predominantly white suburbanites — converged with just two arrests on the first night. Videos showed fans breaching metal security barriers.
Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters is calling on Detroit Police Chief James White to testify about the “seeming inability of DPD to handle much smaller crowds during Cinco de Mayo activities in Southwest Detroit.”
“The economic damage to businesses and the psychological hurt inflicted upon residents and visitors to Southwest Detroit must be addressed,” Waters said in a statement. “We must ensure that racist xenophobic double standards were not reflected in the early militaristic shutdown of Cinco de Mayo activities.”
While performances were underway at El Club, a popular venue on West Vernor, about 10 cops showed up and demanded that the crowd disperse without any explanation, witnesses said. Once outside, the confused crowd was ordered to flee the area as police blocked the street and went door-to-door, forcing customers and festival-goers to disperse.
Among the crowd was Xavier Cuevas, a freelance videographer and photographer who was capturing the festival activities for El Club.
“The officers were marching down every block, letting people know if they don’t leave, they are going to be arrested,” Cuevas tells Metro Times. “They were hitting every business, telling them they have to shut down. It escalated very quickly.”
Cuevas says he obeyed police commands as a line of cops pushed the crowd east toward West Grand Boulevard. While he was photographing police from a distance, he says two cops grabbed him and a third handcuffed him. They seized his phone and about $12,000 worth of camera equipment and placed him in a police van with three other people who had been detained.
“At no point was I being disrespectful,” Cuevas, who used to work for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, says.
Even the police seemed confused about what was going on, Cuevas recalls.
Police drove him and the others to a local precinct before eventually letting them go. At first, police said they were going to keep his belongings as evidence, but they finally returned them.
When he returned to the El Club, people were allowed back in.
“I thought, ‘What was the point?’” Cuevas says. “What did they accomplish?”
On Monday afternoon, not even Detroit police could explain what had happened. DPD spokesman Sgt. Jordan Hall tells Metro Times that a precinct commander made the call to disperse crowds but didn’t elaborate.
“When I spoke with the precinct commander yesterday, they advised me it was due to what was described as a potential public safety concern and that the precinct commander decided to restrict access to Vernor for vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic,” Hall says. “That was the decision that was made.”
Pressed for more details, Hall responds, “I’m not certain what the public safety concern was.”
Meanwhile, activists, attendees, and business owners are left to wonder why police resorted to force and spoiled an otherwise peaceful, joyous event.
“There were thousands of people freaking out and nervous because there was no explanation,” community activist and comedian Ofeliza MuÑeca Torres Saenz tells Metro Times. “The city has never really supported Southwest in a lot of things. We look good on paper and in photos, but when we are trying to have a good time, they shut us down. They caused panic. They intimidated a peaceful crowd.”
Before police arrived, Torres Saenz says she witnessed no problems.
“They were hating on us,” she says. “They were just trying to create chaos. There was no reason to. There was no violence, no one getting hurt.”
Videos of the police shutdown went viral on social media, prompting outrage, confusion, and even racist rants.
“What is the arrest charge? Cinco de Mayo-ing while brown??” one person wrote.
Another chimed in, “Seriously DPD. It’s one day ONE DAY a year people celebrate culture, music, good food and much more. If theres no issues why disperse everyone????”
Others were less tolerant and falsely suggested that immigrants must have created a problem.
“Go back to your own country then, don’t come to ours and make a disturbance,” Mageeronald wrote.
Kferrell12 said, “go back home!! Quit breaking the laws in America. Why can’t you eat tacos and behave. You’re a grown up. Gangs!!”
Another suggested more drastic measures against the peaceful festival goers: “Should have used a pavement roller,” Tonyroda6 wrote.
Torres Saenz says the police actions unnecessarily added to the toxic stereotypes. Now she wants to know why DPD acted so aggressively.
“Everybody is really upset,” she says. “This is one of my favorite events. I was really looking forward to it. But why did this happen? Why?”
