Fireworks mayhem puts city in spotlight

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck’s July Fourth turned out to be nothing to celebrate for many in town.
Instead, the evening was marred by what some are describing as a “teen takeover” at the Hamtramck Town Center shopping strip, at Jos. Campau and Holbrook, where over 1,000 youths and young adults gathered and shot off fireworks – often directly toward each other – and set off what appeared to be, or at least sounded like, M-80s.
For those unfamiliar, M-80s are illegal in Michigan, as 20-30 of them combined equal the blasting power of one stick of dynamite.
Several videos of the incident were posted on social media, and show youths being pushed around in grocery shopping carts from Al-Haramain International Foods, located in the strip mall. At least one youth was shown being pushed in a cart while holding a fireworks launcher behind his head.
Local television news outlets aired some of the footage in Hamtramck, which shocked a number of viewers.
The sounds of mortars and firework explosions combined with the intense visuals made it look and sound like a Middle Eastern war zone.
Police officers on the scene were recorded rushing into the crowds, and in one instance grabbing one of the kids pushing a cart, which then almost turned into a fight.
The chaos raised a number of questions from the community, such as why the teens were allowed to congregate and set off fireworks there in the first place.
The answer to that was that the authorities thought, if they contained the youths in one area, it would spare any spillover into the neighborhoods.
Hamtramck Police Chief Hussein Farhat said officers were partially constrained in what they could do because the parking lot is on private property, and officers had no authority to stop the gathering.
Farhat said the night started out peacefully, until a group of rowdier youths arrived and started pushing grocery carts at each other, eventually taking over with the setting off of major fireworks.
“We had mostly peaceful people watching the fireworks,” Chief Farhat said, referring to the earlier crowd who had gathered.
This is not the first year that the shopping strip parking lot was used to stage fireworks. For the past few years, this has been a gathering spot for locals to celebrate the July Fourth holiday.
This year’s fireworks display seemed to rival what some smaller local communities offer. There were also reports of smoke from the fireworks causing a haze to hang in the humid sky, creating an unhealthy lingering of air pollution.
Farhat said that, despite extra officers on hand, there were multiple emergency calls that officers had to respond to, which drew them away from the fireworks scene.
Other police agencies, such as the county sheriffs and state police, were already tied up in other communities.
Hamtramck was not alone with rowdy youths taking over sections of the city. Both Detroit and Dearborn were dealing with a number of incidents involving fireworks.
The answer to preventing fireworks use, Farhat said, is simple.
“I wish they (state legislators) would just ban fireworks,” he said.
Michigan legalized fireworks in 2011, with then-governor Rick Snyder’s approval. Hamtramck, by state law, cannot independently ban fireworks, but can regulate the time of usage and number of days.
The city council expanded the use of fireworks to accommodate Muslim religious holidays.
According to sources, neither the mayor nor any councilmembers were at the scene. Mayor Adam Alharbi did post a statement on the incident on social media last Sunday.
(See his statement inside this issue.)
Some have also said that Saturday’s fireworks and rowdy behavior resulted in innocent bystanders, including an infant, being wounded. However, those reports could not be confirmed.
Chief Farhat said only one minor was detained and later released to their parents. However, the department says it is now reviewing recordings of the night, and will go after parents and charge them, some with felonies, for allowing their children to participate in the mayhem.
“We want to make an example of these kids,” he said.
But, there were concerns by some city officials, who asked not to be identified, that some other local elected officials will pressure the city to not prosecute anyone as a way to gain continued political support with some of the parents who might be charged.
On social media, residents had plenty to say about the night, most of it negative.
“I thought that video was shot in another country at first, seriously. Only thing missing was the Toyota pickup truck with the machine gun mounted in the back,” said Eric Wieszkowiak, referring to scenes of warring factions in the Mideast.

Former city councilmember Phillip Kwik posed a question that a number of residents were also asking: “Where are all the wonderful parent role models we have in our community?”

But a person who goes by the name of Fazal Choudhury said that, despite the fireworks, “No guns were used. Kids being kids. Who hasn't tried playing daredevil with fireworks?  But no fighting, gunshots being heard. No arrests. Kids having a blast as kids.”

As of yet, city officials have not announced plans for how to control next year’s Fourth of July celebrations.

Posted July 10, 2026