NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of people packed Union Square in Manhattan for an event where a streamer would give away a video game console, but it got out of hand with some of the attendees jumping on vehicles, throwing chairs and punching , and the police struggled to stop the chaos.
Images captured from the air by television news showed crowds running through the streets, scaling structures in the park and blocking traffic. Teenagers were screaming and throwing objects through car windows. Some people got into a moving vehicle and fell as it drove away. Others struck the side of a city bus. People were also seen getting on another bus and jumping.
The police used metal barricades to push back the crowd, and through a megaphone warned that “this assembly is illegal. They are ordered to disperse.”
By 5:30 p.m., police officers had regained control of much of the area, but small skirmishes still broke out, in which young men tore down barricades and hurled bottles and even a pot of flowers at them. It was possible to see policemen subduing people on the floor and chasing them.
There were some arrests and some injuries, including police officers, New York Police department chief Jeffrey Maddrey said overnight. But no details or figures were yet available.
“People were suffering out there,” Maddrey said, adding that she saw people bleeding and having asthma and panic attacks.
Numerous handcuffed people could be seen sitting on the sidewalks, and at least one young man was removed from the scene by two police officers. Police formed lines in the streets to try to control the crowd.
On his Instagram feed, streamer Kai Cenat had an image promoting a contest to be held at 4:00 p.m. Friday in the park. Some youngsters leaving the park said they had come expecting the contest for a live streaming computer and a new PlayStation.
Skylark Jones, 19, and a friend had come to the venue to see Cenat and try to win a prize in the contest, which they said was advertised as a chance to win video game consoles or a video game chair, as well as as a chance to see the popular streamer.
When they got there, the place was already packed, and they saw how people were throwing bottles. There was a riot even before Cenat showed up, they said.
“It was out of a movie,” Jones said. The police “arrived with riot shields, charging at the people.”
A young man who only wanted to give his name, Angel, said he had been there since 11:30 in the morning. He recounted that, at one point, there were so many people in the park that he feared he could not breathe, so he moved to the periphery.
Cenat, 21, is a video creator with 6.5 million followers on the Twitch platform, where he regularly broadcasts live. He also has 4 million subscribers on YouTube, where he posts comedy and everyday life vlogs.
Among his 299 YouTube videos, he has amassed more than 276 million views. In December he was awarded the streamer of the year award at the 12th edition of the Streamy Awards. Messages sent to his publicist, the company that represents him, and his email address for business inquiries were not responded to at this time.
In a live stream on Twitch from a vehicle as the event grew in scale, Cenat showed off gift cards he planned to hand out. Noting the size of the crowd and the police presence, he asked “everyone out there, make sure all of you are safe… We’re not going to do anything until it’s safe.” and a group of escorts exited the vehicle and made their way through the excited crowd, across a street and into the park before the broadcast was interrupted.
