Chicagoans flocked to North Avenue Beach last Monday for Memorial Day, only to have their holiday fun spoiled when Chicago police closed the beach. For the first time in Chicago’s history, North Avenue Beach, where residents go to cool off, was closed due to excessive heat according to Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. McCarthy was backed up by newly elected Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who claimed there was a surge in calls due to heat exhaustion, and the reason for the closing was to give ambulances and paramedics easier access to treat those in need.

Fox Chicago News lightly covered reasons for the beach closing other than heat, which were missing from other local news outlets, CBS and ABC. Fox reported an unusually high presence of Chicago street gangs.

One resident interviewed by Fox claimed:

“They were hooting and hollering and looking for confrontations,” Daley said. “A kid got in my face and was looking for a confrontation….”

Others reported cyclists were actually thrown off of their bikes. Many believe the real reason for the beach closing was exactly this unwarranted violence. Police blogs and readers of local news sites were also quick to respond to what actually happened, and the reports are quite shocking. As many 2000 young teenage “thugs” stormed the beach, in an apparent effort to cause mayhem on those enjoying the hot sunny weather.

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