Autumn Music Festival Turns to Street Protest in Downtown Miami

In an act of sheer defiance, hundreds of youths took to the streets of Miami Saturday in protest at having a free concert shut down by fire marshals.

The youths climbed on top of a Metro bus attempting to make its way through downtown, dancing on top of its roof as the driver was unable to move because of the crowds surrounding the bus.

Chanting “we don’t give a fuck” and “fuck the police,” the youths continued their protest until police arrived. Then they dispersed peacefully.

“I thought it was great,” said Claudy Maes, who said that it didn’t appear that police made any arrests.

“The kids made their point but it wasn’t violent.”

The youths had been attending the Autumn Music Festival at Mekka Miami Nightlcub, 950 N.E. 2nd Ave.

Billed as the “second largest electronic music festival in the state,” the Autumn Music Festival was an all-ages event with no cover charge.

With high-profile DJs like EDX, George Acosta, DJ Icey and Baby Anne, the event ended up drawing more people than the venue could handle.

It was scheduled to last from noon until 10 p.m., but fire marshals shut it down by 4:20 p.m. – a number that symbolizes marijuana use -  which couldn’t have been more appropriate, according to a Facebook page called “I was part of the Autumn Music Festival riot.”

As of this writing, the Facebook page has accrued 357 “likes”.

On November 20th of 2010, thousands of people lined up to enter Autumn Music festival (which was free). Things got rowdy since they stopped letting people in. So, people said fuck that and bum rushed. Around 4:20(great timing fucking cops..) the festival was shut down and everyone was forced to leave. With thousands of people filled with rage we gathered together in front of Bicentennial park chanting FUCK THE POLICE. Fuck. Yeah.

Mark Ivan, the organizer of the event, had nothing to say about the incident.

When reached through a private message on Facebook Sunday requesting a quick interview, he responded by saying he would be unable to answer any questions until “possibly sometime next week.”

But Maes, who attended the event with her husband, said the event was “highly mismanaged.”

“Last year, more than 10,000 showed up,” she said. “They should have expected more people this year.”

A Youtube comment left late Sunday night stated that the event was shutdown because a 15-year-old girl had been found dead in the bathroom. That report is still unconfirmed, so we will just leave you with the comment in its entirety.

if anyone was paying attention they would know that it got shut down because they found a 15 year old girl dead inside of a bathroom. not to mention the 20+ kids who had overdosed. its securities fault for allowing children ( no offense to anyone) into an event that was suppose to be 18+. i saw countless girls in the 21+ line that looked 12, didnt show id, but because they were cute and half naked got in. so how do u explain that to that girls mother when the event was suppose to be 18+?

The event was actually an all-ages event, which is why we should take the above comment with a grain-of-salt for the time being.

Check out the additional two videos below.

Related Links: Ultra Music Festival - Photos and Video from Day One Ultra Music Festival - Photos and Videos From Day Two Related Categories: Miami: Local News, Carlos Miller is a featured writer at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller. See more articles by Carlos Miller Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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