LAKEWOOD- On Tuesday night, nearly one thousand Jewish schoolchildren rallied and protested on County Line Road, protesting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to suspend summer sleepaway camps. On June 2nd, Cuomo said that summer sleep-over camps in New York State would not be permitted to open at all.
This led to protests in the streets in Brooklyn last week and on Tuesday, the children of Lakewood took to the streets and shut down a major county road.
The protest began around 4 pm near Kosher Village, eventually shutting down County Line Road from Squankum Road to Brook Road.
“These kids have been through a lot and nowhere are they are expressing their frustration and opposing the decision made by Governor Cuomo,” said one Orthodox Jewish man who wished to remain anonymous. “These kids wait every year to go to the sleepaway camps in upstate New York…Governor Cuomo just said no and that’s that…these camps can be operated just like any other business under CDC regulations…to just flat out say no is a disservice to these children, surely there can be some kind of compromise.”
Children carried signs that said “Kids Lives Matter” and “No Camps, No Peace”. Some children in attendance said they intend to continue the protests in days to come.
“We work hard all year long and this year with the virus and so much going on, this isn’t fair, we all wait for this and it lets us have a break and have fun with our friends during the summer,” one child said at the rally.
“Governor Cuomo doesn’t care about us,” another said.
Protesters said at first things were tense with the Lakewood Police Department, but then the police shut down the road and allowed the children to ride up and down on their bikes in protest.
By 9 pm, police and protesters amicably cleared the street and traffic was reopened.
Video by Lakewood Scoop. Photo by Shore News Network.
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