A YouTuber is facing charges after thousands of people piled into a New York square for a console giveaway event that turned into a riot.
Sixty five people were arrested at the gathering that promised free PlayStation 5s on Friday afternoon (4 August).
The organiser, Twitch gaming streamer Kai Cenat, faces charges of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly among other charges, the NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said following the chaos.
Video footage of the hyped-up event shows fights breaking out in Manhattan’s Union Square, with rioters hurling stones and chairs at police officers, climbing onto a subway station entrance and tearing down metal barriers.
“Our officers were attacked, we were crushed, we were pushed, I had officers on the floor,” Mr Maddrey said. “You had people were walking around with shovels, axes... a lot of young people got hurt.”
Huge crowds turned out for the giveaway in Manhattan’s Union Square— (Getty Images)
Police arrested dozens of people when the event descended into chaos— (REUTERS)
Who is Kai Cenat?
Cenat is part of the YouTube group AMP (Any Means Possible)— (Getty)
The 21-year-old, who has 5.5m followers on Instagram, rose to fame by creating comedy-based content on YouTube and the streaming service Twitch.
In February he became the most-subscribed Twitch streamer of all time and was named ‘Streamer of the Year’ at the 2023 Streamer Awards.
The content creator, famous for reaction and prank videos, attended the State University of New York at Morrisville in 2019 but dropped out the following year to focus on content creation.
Cenat is part of the YouTube group AMP (Any Means Possible), a six-man comedy group popular with Gen Z viewers.
Kai Cenat at his gathering in Union Square, Manhattan— (Getty)
What happened in New York?
More than 1,000 people poured into Union Square for the Playstation 5 giveaway— (ABC 7)
People stand on top of a street vendor's cart during the riot— (AFP via Getty Images)
At 1.30pm on Friday afternoon), the New York Police Department became aware of an influencer who was encouraging all of his followers on social media to come to Union Square in Manhatten, Chief Maddrey said at a press conference.
In a Twitch stream on Wednesday, Cenat said he would be hosting a “huge giveaway” on Friday - promising computers, Play Station 5s and other technology to his millions of followers.
By 3pm the post by Cenat encouraging his fans to attend had gone viral, with thousands of young people flocking to the park for the chance to bag something from the giveaway.
A number of people were injured in the clashes— (REUTERS)
Police officers push back the crowd during the riot— (AFP via Getty Images)
“I feel like New York really deserves it,” he said in the live stream.
Soon after Cenat arrived at Union Square, violence broke out with people throwing fireworks and various objects at each other and the police, Mr Maddrey reported.
A number of people were injured during the chaos and thousands of police officers were called to break up the scene.
The aftermath
NYPD officers turned out in force— (REUTERS)
Police officers line up to control the crowd— (AFP via Getty Images)
Cenat was removed by police from the park “for safety reasons,” Chief Maddrey said.
He has been charged with inciting a riot and unlawful assembly among other charges, the police have said.
The police made 65 arrests, including 30 people under the age of 18.
One fan commented on Cenat’s recent Instagram post, saying: “Bro you just messed up. Feds gonna indict you on in-sighting a riot. They’re gonna make a example out of you.”
