The 21-year-old Twitch streamer Kai Cenat will be charged for the chaos that broke out in Union Square this afternoon ahead of a giveaway event he had planned. Cenat was previously taken in for questioning at a Manhattan precinct. The New York Police Department’s chief of department, Jeffrey Maddrey, later said in an evening briefing that Cenat now faces at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly. According to Maddrey, police also arrested 65 people, including 30 juveniles.
Cenat, who has 6.5 million total followers on Twitch, in addition to 5.5 million on Instagram and 3.63 million on YouTube, had announced on August 3 that he would be giving away free PlayStation 5’s at 4 p.m. today, posting, “Fuck it <3 NYC! Tomorrow 8/4/23 huge giveaway at 14 St Union Square Park,†promising “PC’s, PS5’s, gaming chairs etc†and telling followers, “BE THERE.†The giveaway was in conjunction with another Twitch streamer, Fanum, and in a livestream, Cenat told followers to meet across the street from the Whole Foods on 14th Street.
The NYPD says that not long after 3 p.m., “thousands†of “mostly young people†had begun to crowd around Union Square, flooding the streets, sidewalks, and park. People in the crowd began throwing garbage, debris, rocks, bottles, and larger material from a nearby construction site. Maddrey told the press that people in the crowd were tossing fireworks at each other and that “officers were attacked. We were crushed, we were pushed. We had officers on the floor … I was hit with multiple objects as well.†He also observed people in the crowd “bleeding from their heads†and suffering “panic attacks, anxiety attacks, asthma attacks.†Police arrested dozens of people, who were taken into custody on three city buses. By 5:30 p.m., the crowd had dispersed.
When asked what legal steps might be pursued by the police, Chief Maddrey said the NYPD was looking into “inciting a riot and other charges†and confirmed that the giveaway “was not preplanned with the police department.†ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter CeFaan Kim reported that while this gathering was breaking out into what could be charged as a riot, the Union Square Greenmarket “was just going on without skipping a beat … People still have to get their produce, I guess.â€
This post has been updated.