Crowd overwhelms New York City’s Union Square, tosses chairs, climbs on vehicles

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Police in New York City are struggling to control a crowd of thousands of people who gathered in Manhattan’s Union Square for an Internet personality’s videogame console giveaway that got out of hand. Aerial TV news footage Friday showed a surging, tightly packed crowd climbing on vehicles, hurling chairs, throwing punches and scaling structures in the park. Shouting teenagers swung objects at car windows and ran through the streets. Traffic was blocked by the crowd on several streets. A growing number of police officers could be seen trying to control the gathering. On his Instagram feed, the streamer Kai Cenat had an image promoting a giveaway at 4 p.m. Friday in the park.