Beverly Police Clear Overcrowded Beach

Dave Copeland
Updated ·2 min read

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly police had to clear a small public beach Wednesday after reports of overcrowding and people not following Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's order on beaches aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Police were called to the Rice's Beach around 1:30p.m., where they saw large groups of people sitting together, hugging, wrestling and playing organized ball games. All of those activities are prohibited under Baker's order.

"It was necessary to clear and close Rice’s Beach, as a crowd too large for the beach arrived, and did not comply with the requirements of the Governor’s order – specifically a large group of teens," Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill said in a Facebook post. "And I get it, teens. I empathize with you. If this was last summer, we would have smiled to see you socializing and enjoying yourselves in the Sun. The problem is we just can’t gather and socialize in this way right now. Not yet."

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Massachusetts beaches reopened on Monday. Cahill said the city was working on new procedures to maximize the use of the city's beaches and parks while following social distancing guidelines.

"What we saw today wasn’t it and won’t work. As soon as possible, we will share more specific guidance tailored to our unique public coastal spaces," Cahill said.

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Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).

This article originally appeared on the Beverly Patch