Kai Cenat had urged his followers to gather in Manhattan but the event spiralled out of control and ‘a lot of young people got hurt’
A New York gathering called by an online influencer degenerated into violence that left people injured, prompting a massive police turnout, authorities said.
On Friday, 21-year-old Kai Cenat posted on Instagram 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.
At least 2,000 are said to have quickly assembled on Union Square and the 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.