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The annual J’Ouvert Festival, which takes place before New York’s massive West Indian American Day Carnival this coming weekend, was beset with violence last year. The two murders at the festival prompted the NYPD to place fliers warning attendees to “not shoot” or “stab anyone.”

As reported by Gothamist, NYPD tweeted last Thursday an image of the flier warning, which mentioned the two killings and the indictment of four people connected to the crimes. Local news station WABC also reported on the warning, reporting that the police placed fliers in and around Brooklyn where much of the celebrations will take place. DNAInfo reports that members of a Facebook group are offended by the NYPD’s tactic on this matter.

From DNAInfo:

“This notice which I witnessed NYPD posting all over is one of the most disgusting, racist, condescending and rude public announcements I have ever heard of,” wrote Anton Gold, a longtime area resident who has celebrated J’Ouvert for years.

“Why are they lumping hundreds of thousands of peaceful J’Ouvert celebrants with gang bangers from Ebbets Field? It’s completely outrageous and the opposite of what the NYPD says they are trying to do,” he added.

“I think this flyer is misleading,” said Prospect-Lefferts Gardens resident Seth Kaplan. “The murder of Carey Gabay was gang-related and unrelated to J’Ouvert. The language and choice of words is insulting.”

The NYPD’s tweet can be seen below.

Photo: By David ShankboneDavid Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7965292