"There will be no festival this year," Beydoun told The Arab American News. "We are still in the process of working on ideas for events that would involve the community in the future."
She said those events, which are still in "the planning stage," will not be in the same format as the festival.
The festival had become a target for anti-Muslim sentiments prior to its cancellation for the first time in 2013.
Members from the Christian evangelist group Acts 17 Apologetics, who were holding anti-Muslim signs, posted a YouTube video in 2009 that showed Dearborn Police escorting them out of the festival after they had gotten into confrontations with other attendees.
The following year, that same group returned to the festival, and three of its members were arrested by Dearborn Police and charged with breaching the peace.
The arrests gained national attention and sparked discussions about possible violations of the group's First Amendment rights. The three individuals were acquitted by a jury later in 2010. After the acquittal, they sued the City of Dearborn for wrongful arrest. Dearborn settled the lawsuit in 2013 by agreeing to pay a total of $300,000 to the plaintiffs.
Shortly after the settlement was announced, the city asked the Chamber to move the festival from Warren Avenue to Ford Woods Park. The Chamber eventually cancelled the festival for 2013.
The cancellation of the 2014 festival seems to be the last nail in the coffin of the yearly event, which started in 1995 and has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors over the years.
SOURCE
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