Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser brought back a temporary youth curfew this weekend after a Halloween night gathering of adolescents caused chaos in the district.
The curfew follows several instances of youth disorder throughout the capital, which occurred after the mayor’s last youth curfew expired in early October.
“This is in response to several weeks of disorderly juvenile behavior which endangered both themselves and others,” Bowser said.
On Oct. 31, hundreds of teenagers gathered at a public square in the Navy Yard neighborhood, an area that has become notorious for large youth gatherings. The disorderly event in the southeast occurred after several social media advertisements circulated calling for “Teen Takeovers” in Navy Yard and the U-Street Corridor, according to Bowser’s order.
“Some began brawling, blocking streets, and moving into commercial establishments in large groups, endangering both themselves and others in the area. Six youth were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and one police officer suffered minor injuries,” the mayor wrote of the incident.
Videos on social media show National Guard and police officers attempting to wrangle or arrest the juveniles as they begin to disperse from the open square.
The curfew, which began on Saturday, is in place for anyone under the age of 18 and lasts from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. It is only authorized until Wednesday evening. It also gave Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department Pamela A. Smith the authority to designate certain problematic areas where unruly gatherings often occur and impose more specific curfews on them.
“To protect the public peace and preserve the safety and welfare of persons and property in the District, it is necessary to exercise my authority to declare a public emergency, impose earlier hours on the juvenile curfew, extend the juvenile curfew to 17-year-olds, and implement various emergency measures,” Bowser wrote in the emergency order.
Bowser last implemented a youth curfew on July 7, which was passed by the D.C. Council and lasted until Oct. 5. The curfew ordered by Bowser on Saturday is similar to the July 7 Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, but has not been extended by the council.
Bowser and Smith have put pressure on the D.C. Council to extend the July legislation in previous weeks. In the meantime, Bowser passed the temporary emergency order herself. Though it expires on Nov. 5, the council has the authority to extend the order.
The council is expected to vote on Tuesday on whether to extend the curfew for three months, per NBC 4.
Since the July legislation expired on Oct. 5, the district has seen several instances of disorderly behavior by teenagers, including the takeover of a movie theater in Chinatown and an Oct. 19 fight among over 100 adolescents.
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“Right now, they don’t feel like there’s any accountability,” Smith said in late October. “So they’re starting to do the same thing all over again, and it is very frustrating.”
The D.C. Council did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.