Photos by Steven
This was a well-covered story this afternoon... reports of "riots" in and around Union Square after promises of an unsanctioned PlayStation 5 video game consoles giveaway via Twitch streamer Kai Cenat turned chaotic.
Meanwhile, from 3 p.m. on, it seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was looking skyward at the six (at one point) helicopters on the scene...
Updated: 
Cenat was issued a desk appearance, per the Post ... who also reported that "65 others were taken into custody throughout the three-hour melee, 30 of whom were juveniles."
The 21-year-old Bronx resident was charged with riot, inciting to riot and unlawful assembly, Gothamist reported.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey "said believes the event wouldn’t have flown out of hand if it had been organized through the proper municipal channels, allowing the NYPD the time to set up barriers and deploy an appropriate police presence."
21 comments:
Impossible to nap with those copters this afternoon!
what a paradigm of a fucktard.
We was there. We watched it all unfold. The audacity of humans to think they're any superior to any other creatures on earth...
I wasn't there but I'm guessing this must have a pack of Boomers out wilding pissed at the price of organic kale at the farmer's market. Or the Bridge and Tunnel contingent protesting congestion pricing. Wait, no. The drunken frat Bros are the only ones who could have been responsible for such mayhem! I guess this ignorant lot didn't get the memo about good manners being the lubrication of a civilized society...........
Absolutely bonkers. I stayed indoors thankfully because I wasn't feeling well. Otherwise, I was supposed to meet up with a friend at the farmers market during the afternoon. Those responsible for this event clearly underestimated what could happen, and should be faced with criminal charges, including those whom participated in the violent rioting of the neighborhood. WTF is wrong with people? Why can't we co-exist in a civilized society?
As frightening as it was to watch on live tv, (and the potential for a deadly crowd crush or lethal use of force seemed definitely present) I’d like to point out 2 things: From the footage and accounts I’ve seen, nobody in the crowd beat any police officers with flagpoles. Nobody I saw stole a police officer’s badge or riot shield. Or sprayed officers with chemical irritants. Nobody ransacked any Federal Government offices in an iconic American building, threatened a Vice President, or tried to carry out a de facto coup. The other
Point, is that the NYPD brass apparently got word of this gathering, hours before it
broke loose. Afterward, used the excuse that no one could have anticipated the rapid expansion of the social media-fueled crowd. Well, If the Real Deal ever happens again in Manhattan, I don’t think the bad actors are going to give Law Enforcement a couple of hours notice.
Reading these comment above, I’m not sure if I’m more worried about the streamer’s mob, or those in the comments section. Yikes!
This was horrible and scary on many levels.
Amazing that there were not more injuries.
Of course lots of news coverage.
The NYT truly minimized what happened and especially the impact on regular people in the area - trying to get home, at a medical appointment, on the bus etc.
1:33 am. I was just thinking that it’s a good thing it was only a stupid influencer and not Donald Trump that organized this nonsense. But then again, we don’t have Trump galas in NYC. As uncivilized as we are capable of becoming, we never stoop to the level of Trump cult members.
Many other animal species don't even behave like this in the wild. Our human race is failing its youth. Here we have a bunch of stupid kids fighting over a play station 5?! Then rioting cars, trashing the streets, and going after one another with violence? Are you kidding me? My boyfriend is a NYPD police officer based in lower Manhattan. He said most who are arrested on a Friday will have to spend the weekend in jail until their arraignment on Monday before a judge and the DA. He said the conditions inside the cell while waiting to be transported to court are horrific. I hope the behavior of these individuals is met with fury and consequences.
@1:33- Stop with the deflection and sugarcoating. It was a fucking riot. And over the STUPIDEST shit one could imagine. These smoked up kids have to be about as dumb as a bag of rocks. I guess I was a dumb fucked up kid once too, but at least the people I admired were artists, musicians, writers, etc, but "Influencers" ??......I think not. How fucking low and vacuous can you go?
@6:57 Thank you, I thought I was the only one who felt this way.
The videos are at times hard to watch. The behaviour is abhorrent, particularly when then the food vendor's cart gets pounced upon by a crowd who damages it while throwing the vendor's items to the crowd.
A couple of years ago I had tickets for an ASAP Rocky show that turned into a tribute concert for ASAP Yams who had just died. The crowd outside grew way out of control sp my friend and I bailed on the concert. Never did it cross my mind to do flying karate kicks at car windows.
It's really fucked up that some people think this riot should get a free pass.
Amazing this guy incites a riot, but is quickly released in record time with a desk appearance ticket. He should be liable for all the damage within that area. All he has to to do was communicate his idea to the proper authorities so everyone would be prepared. Do yourself a favor, go back to Atlanta and start mayhem there.
Quite by happenstance, I was there early on. The sheer numbers of kids was insane. I did manage to talk to a few of them, to ask them what was going on and they explained how Kai Cenat was supposed to give away pc's, game consoles and the like. They seemed to realize the stupidity of such a stunt and were resigned to just hanging out. For the most part, the kids were not rowdy, just excited to see and be part of a happening and were just mulling about in noisy groups on an August Friday afternoon.
Then "stuff" began to be thrown around. Empty and half full water bottles, random small bags of lunch trash, a football (which actually wound up being a game between opposing crowds on either side of 14th St.) and a basketball.
Out of the blue, a bottle was tossed, then a chair, then rocks were flying - the dynamic had literally changed in a flash. Fire Extinguishers were tossed -creating huge clouds of powder. The toolshed for the construction site was broken into and looted. It was getting serious.
The police came and tried to open up the blocked streets by separating the crowds. That's when things got dicey. All sorts of stuffed was hurled directly at the officer's heads from belligerents in the crowd. Mind you, the cops were bareheaded and just trying to allow traffic to flow unimpeded.
The noise of all the news and police choppers made it deafening. People were moving in massive waves back and forth along the Avenue. The riot police and back-up officer's soon moved in and had a hell of a time trying to get the crowds dispersed. Arrests were made and large groups of rioters were broken up and moved out.
I have to hand it to the cops, they were restrained and under a lot of pressure to keep things from going south. They knew they were dealing with kids and strove to keep it civil.
One wonders where our "illustrious" Mayor Goody was all this time?
Probably sitting for a cover shoot for the New Yorker magazine...s/
I cannot believe that punk influencer received just a desk appearance ticket while his disciples are sitting behind bars waiting to be arraigned. Oh, the irony. I've surveyed the damage in the area from my friend taking photos who was shopping at Whole Foods. It looks like a tornado hit. As a resident of this neighborhood, I am beyond disgusted. What if there was a stampede? What if many were killed as a result of this fiasco? I get it. Sometimes young kids don't often think of the consequences from their actions and how it impacts others. There is a difference between having fun and causing mayhem. But this is next level. So glad I was at home working remotely. Has Mayor Adams publicly condemned this event and the actions of these people?
@8:04am: "My boyfriend is a NYPD police officer based in lower Manhattan. He said most who are arrested on a Friday will have to spend the weekend in jail until their arraignment on Monday before a judge and the DA. He said the conditions inside the cell while waiting to be transported to court are horrific."
I hope the conditions in the cell are beyond horrific. Maybe they'll just shrivel up b/c they can't play their effing video games all weekend. A couple of them might actually learn a useful lesson or something.
This could have happened in any major city including Red cities like Miami so let's chill down the MAGA shit. Yeah 10.06 AM,I got your dog whistle re the demo of the crowd, rather obvious. And my father was a MP, my best friends are retired and active law enforcement (NYPD, FBI, PA) so please spare me your law enforcement indignation. And I go to every 13th Precinct NYPD Community meeting so I am well aware of the crime metrics in this town. And IMO, NYPD did a pretty good job overall and they learned their lesson that they need to be a lot more SM proactive in the future. Bottom line, I hope they throw the book at him, Kai Cenat,including the incite to riot charges.
@XTC: LOL. Maybe you influenced what beer your crew was drinking, but that's about it.
@12:17- My comment was clearly over your head and has nothing to do with law enforcement indignation.
@12:40- I wouldn't want to influence anyone. If one doesn't have mind of one's own I can't help you.
August 4, 2023: A video games console giveaway goes out of control.
January 6, 2021: An election result whinge goes out of control.
The First Amendment sometimes has consequence.
"@12:17- My comment was clearly over your head and has nothing to do with law enforcement indignation."
Yeah, in hindsight, you're (XTC) correct on my law enforcement indignation angle. But funny how you went radio silent on what I bought up re the meat of your post:
"pack of Boomers"
"Or the Bridge and Tunnel contingent"
"The drunken frat Bros"
Funny these are all white demos. Your dog whistle is clear of being ironic on white demos versus the POC demo that was at U.S. You took the standard NY Post racist post, whenever there is crime story, that points out the POC demo that's involved and toned it down a bit with some "wit". And since you hide behind an Avatar when throwing shade on posters such as myself and others*, and since I post my real name here (and I am listed as a contributor to this blog), I'm "Dunn" with you. Buh bye.
*"If one doesn't have mind of one's own"
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