POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - The director of a child care center in Pompano Beach took to the streets alongside dozens of children to protest citations that the facility received from the city.
7News cameras captured students and staff from Youth Under Construction Youth Center as they made their way to Pompano Beach City Hall while chanting and holding up signs, Thursday afternoon.
“No justice, no peace!” they chanted.
The center’s director, Delvin King, said he has received complaints from the community about his students gathering and not social distancing.
“They may catch the ball, and they may be two or three feet close to each other. They decided to complain about that to the city,” he said.
City officials said King’s only violation is running a school larger than what his permit allows.
“That sounds familiar, but we’re not operating outside of our permit,” said King.
The center’s director said the complaints are racially motivated, and that’s why he organized the march.
About 80 students took part in the demonstration that took them from the campus to city hall, located several blocks away.
“The message today is that black lives matter,” said a protester, “black schools matter, and that we should be accepted into the community and that we shouldn’t be treated differently.”
“We got complaints from the neighbors, like, ‘It’s too loud,’ ‘there’s too much people here,'” said 11th grader Sharard Alvarez, “like we were having a block party when we were having a meeting for a business program.”
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies closed roads and bicycled alongside the students.
“I hope that this gives awareness to the city of Pompano. I hope this gives awareness to Broward County that these students’ lives matter, and they care about the future,” said King.
After the students reached city hall, a bus took them back to the center.
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