A weekend characterized by violence and clashes with the police has just ended in New York, after a well-known streamer promised to give away 300 PS5 consoles. The center of the events was Union Square, where more than 2,000 people showed up in the hope of grabbing the latest Sony gaming console at no cost.
The PS5 given away and the clashes with the police: what happened in New York?
It all started on Friday, August 4, 2023, when Kai Cenat, a Twitch streamer with over 6 million followers, wrote a Twitter post /X. In the tweet Cenat announced that three hours later, at 16:00 (local time), would give away a PlayStation 5 console to the first 300 people who showed up in Union Square. The tweet was later removed since, as we are about to tell you, the situation has literally gotten out of hand.
At the agreed time, in the square, there are already over 2000 people. It was immediately clear that such a horde of people, without a minimum of organization, would have been unmanageable. The police present can therefore only witness the situation which soon degenerates into violence and chaos. In fact, soon some began lighting fireworks and vandalizing cars. The violence reaches its peak when part of the crowd has begun to throwing objects even at the police, present to monitor the situation. The New York police intervened promptly, declaring the “level 4” mobilizationwhich means that more than 1,000 agents have been deployed to put down the riot.
A gathering of thousands of young people turns into chaos in New York after Kai Cenat, a famous streamer announced that he would be giving away PS5s in Union Square Park. pic.twitter.com/QbyOe3tFL2
— Le_patriot13 (@Le_Patoff) August 4, 2023
The clashes lasted about an hour, and at 5:00 pm the crowd finally dispersed. The agents then took Kai Cenat into custody, guilty of having organized an event without having the relevant permits. Some rioters were also arrested.