A massive crowd took over Union Square Park on Friday after a giveaway event thrown by a Twitch star turned violent, leaving several police officers injured and a number of people, including the influencer himself, in custody.
An unruly crowd of thousands of young people gathered in Union Square on Friday after Twitch streamer Kai Cenat attempted to giveaway free video games Friday. The event turned violent and uncontrollable, forcing the NYPD to step in and try and quell the situation.
"Kai Cenat said pop out and that's what the city did," one fan explained from the scene afterwards. "That's how we show love!"The view over Union Square where a Twitch influencer's event attracted thousands of people. Initial estimates from police put the crowd at 3,000 to 5,000 people. Witnesses told FOX 5 NY that they heard what sounded like gunfire and several people were trampled in the ensuing stampede.
"Our officers were attacked. We were in there, we were crushed, we were pushed. I had officers on the floor," he recalled. "I was in the middle of the crowd. I was hit with multiple objects as well. I think I have a couple of injuries but I’ll figure it out when I have time to think about it." "We have encountered things like this before but never to this level of dangerousness where young people would not listen to our commands. They were fighting each other, they were hurting each other and they were turning their attacks on us," he continued. "We had to defend ourselves and we had to make arrests.
By 5 p.m., the crowd had begun to disperse, but the area remained chaotic. An hour later, the NYPD was still advising people to stay away and several trains were bypassing the area.
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