http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/07/lennon.vigil.ap/index.html Mayor says Lennon vigil will end at 1 a.m. December 7, 2000 Web posted at: 4:36 PM EST (2136 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani refused to suspend Central Park's 1 a.m. curfew to accommodate hundreds of John Lennon fans expected at a memorial vigil on the 20th anniversary of the ex-Beatle's slaying Friday. "That's plenty of time to have this celebration or memorial," Giuliani said Thursday, rejecting a plea from the lord mayor of Lennon's native Liverpool, England. "It's dangerous for a lot of people when you keep the park open, and it requires a tremendous amount of additional security." Giuliani was derided by at least one Lennon fan as "Mean Mr. Mustard." Each year since Lennon's slaying on December 8, 1980, fans have gathered in the park opposite the spot where he was shot five times by a deranged fan. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, would leave a single lighted candle in her window at the Dakota apartments as a sign of solidarity with the fans. The vigil would typically last into the morning hours, with fans singing Lennon's songs and remembering his message of peace. But the Giuliani administration began enforcing the park's curfew. Last year, police were already in Strawberry Fields -- the section of the park renamed for the Beatles song -- to remove fans at 1 a.m. This year, Giuliani was unbending even after the Lennon-ites invited him to spend the night with them. "We want to invite the mayor to come down and sing with us," said a pony-tailed Tom Leighton of the Memorial Committee. "We hope he wakes up from his 1950s coma and realizes December 8 is a significant date." "C'mon, man. This is not a parade, this is not a party," said Eric Paulin, 45, who turns out with his five-piece band to play Beatles music every December 8. "We'd rather not be out here singing. We'd rather have John Lennon alive.
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