Police say US influencer Kai Cenat could be charged with inciting a riot after chaos in Manhattan.
Police say they plan to charge US YouTuber Kai Cenat after a video games console giveaway event he organised sparked mayhem in New York.
Thousands of people rampaged through Union Square in anticipation of free PlayStation 5 devices, hurling bottles, stones and tins of paint.
Mr Cenat could be charged with multiple counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly.
Police say they made more than 60 arrests.
People first gathered at about 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) after Mr Cenat posted on social media - where he has more than 10 million followers and subscribers - that he would be handing out 300 PlayStations.
By 15:00, hundreds had piled on to streets surrounding one of New York’s busiest train stops.
They climbed cars and the train station entrance’s roof and threw bottles at responding police officers.
During a livestream inside a vehicle near Union Square as the disorder was unfolding, Mr Cenat said: "They’re throwing tear gas out there.
“We’re not going to do nothing until it’s safe. Everybody for themselves, because it’s a war out there man.”
Mr Cenat was taken into police custody at around 17:00. The crowd was finally dispersed about an hour later.
According to a CBS affiliate, Mr Cenat did not have a permit for the event, which was reportedly a collaboration with Bronx YouTube star Fanum.
NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said: “We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness, where young people would not listen to our commands.”
He added: "You had people walking around with shovels, axes and other tools from the construction trade.
“In addition, individuals were also lighting fireworks. They were throwing them towards police and they were throwing them at each other.”
Mr Cenat made headlines in March after he broke the record for attracting the most Twitch subscribers by reaching 300,000.
Twitch is a livestreaming platform, where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.
In the build-up to breaking the record, Mr Cenat launched a round-the-clock drive to boost his subscribers - chatting, gaming and interviewing guests, as well as sleeping, all on camera - for 30 days.
Doing an in person giveaway of that much stuff in the most populated city in the US…you have to be an idiot if you don’t expect it to get crazy. Announcing to everyone you’re carrying around tens…or hundreds of thousands of dollars in highly sought after consoles. You gotta have no brains.
Are they still highly sought after? I thought the stock issues had more or less being eliminated now.
I just walked into a random mom and pop store in my moderately populated home town, and bought a PS5. That was about a year ago now. I just assume that if they had one they can’t be stock issues anymore.
Perhaps I was just incredibly lucky and didn’t notice?
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Libertarian folks: pretty good example of why you need government. Permits are a good thing.
I’m actually pretty pro government, I just want effective and non-corrupt government. Somehow that seems to be a radical thing to think.
Although if they are going to be corrupt I would prefer that they are not effective.
Twitch streamers continue to be obnoxious and have farrrr too much money then they deserve
Good
Surprised they didn’t shoot them. Glad too, nice to see police officers are capable of some restraint.
They slammed one kid’s head through a window.
Ah, there it is.
Doing an in person giveaway of that much stuff in the most populated city in the US…you have to be an idiot if you don’t expect it to get crazy. Announcing to everyone you’re carrying around tens…or hundreds of thousands of dollars in highly sought after consoles. You gotta have no brains.
Wait, that’s a requirement for twitch streaming?
Are they still highly sought after? I thought the stock issues had more or less being eliminated now.
I just walked into a random mom and pop store in my moderately populated home town, and bought a PS5. That was about a year ago now. I just assume that if they had one they can’t be stock issues anymore.
Perhaps I was just incredibly lucky and didn’t notice?