A LANDMARK park in Manhattan has become “the ground zero for the city’s descent into crime and chaos” with loud parties, assaults and stabbing.
Hundreds of revelers descended on Washington Square Park for boisterous parties after an 10-hour curfew aimed at stamping out anti-social behavior was lifted.
A drug-infested lawless park horrifies even the people of Greenwich Village, renowned for their free spirits.
In recent months, the northwest corner of the park has turned into a “drug den” filled with crack and heroin.
Meanwhile, alcohol-soaked raves around the central fountain guarded the neighbors and ransacked the historic green space.
Two men, including a 24-year-old, were stabbed in the early hours of Saturday in a 10-person brawl, according to the New York Post.
About 50 people were dancing in the park – which is surrounded by high-end homes – at 2.15 a.m. when a fight broke out and several people were stabbed.
Just two hours before the stabbing, a 43-year-old man filming an argument on his phone had the device snatched from his hands, his two attackers then punched him in the face and kicked him.
Nearby, a 77-year-old cook from the nearby Washington Square Diner was pushed into a picture window after asking an abusive customer to leave.
The victim, named only Constantino, suffered a cut to the head after the assailant – whom the NYPD named Gregory Conwell, 27 – threw him into the window, which shattered on impact.
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Restaurant manager George Takos told the Post, “He started swearing and screaming and screaming and doing whatever he wanted, then he grabbed the chef and threw him out the window. “
Meanwhile, a rave organizer, who lives in Queens, called the residents “Karens” – and told them to get away.
Party promoter David ‘Shaman’ Ortiz, 28, of Queens, also slammed male critics of loud ‘Kevins’ raves who want to ‘steal the joy’.
In an interview with the Post, he said: “This is my response to the residents. If you have a problem with amplified sound and you live in the downtown area, you live in the Washington Square Park neighborhood, then you should move out.
“I don’t let anyone steal our joy. “
In a recent Instagram story, Ortiz also called the NYPD “New York’s biggest gang.”
The park has long been a destination for bohemian crowds to hang out, listen to music, and party with friends.
But locals say thug all-night parties with loud music, public drug addiction, impromptu boxing matches and donut-spinning cars are rampant in the area.
Dramatic moment, cops in riot gear enforce curfew in NYC park, arrest dozens
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