- Influencer Kai Cenat posted on Instagram promising a livestream and PlayStation 5 giveaways in lower Manhattan.
- Thousands of young people, at least 2,000 by media estimates, quickly gathered in Union Square and surrounding streets.
- Some in the crowd threw objects from a construction site, targeting people and police; rioters surrounded and smashed vehicles.
- About 1,000 police officers were deployed to disperse the gathering; several people were arrested, Cenat was questioned but not detained.
- New York City Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said many people were bleeding and suffering, calling the event uncontrolled and chaotic.
A New York gathering called by a popular online influencer drew an unexpectedly large crowd on Friday and degenerated into violence that left people injured, prompting a massive police turnout, authorities said.
It all started with a posting on Instagram from 21-year-old Kai Cenat, calling on fans to meet him in lower Manhattan for a live-streamed event where he would hand out gifts including PlayStation 5 game consoles.
Thousands of young people — at least 2,000 according to US media — gathered very quickly on Union Square and surrounding streets in the hopes of seeing Cenat, who has millions of followers on Twitch, YouTube, Instagram and other social media.
As the streets heaved, young men started throwing objects from a nearby construction site, targeting people in the crowd and the police, who were rapidly deployed in large numbers.
Television footage and news photographs showed rioters surrounding and blocking vehicles, with young men kicking and smashing some of the cars.
“People were bleeding from their heads, from their faces … people were suffering out here,” said New York City Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey at a press briefing
“There were a lot of people, it was uncontrolled… a lot of young people got hurt.”
In the end, it took a thousand police officers to disperse the impromptu gathering.
Several people were arrested, Maddrey said. Cenat was taken in for questioning, but had not been formally detained.
