Social media influencer Kai Cenat has been charged with inciting a riot and unlawful assembly after his promised giveaway event in Manhattan’s Union Square descended into violence. Thousands of Mr Cenat’s fans gathered in the park on Friday afternoon after he announced a “huge giveaway” in a Twitch livestream. The scene quickly turned violent as aerial footage showed fights breaking out, people hurling stones and chairs at police officers, climbing onto a subway station entrance and tearing down metal barriers. An unknown number of people were hurt, including several officers, and dozens were arrested. Mr Cenat, 21, who has 6.5 million followers on Twitch and more than four million on YouTube, was surrounded by hundreds of fans as the chaos unfolded before he left with a police escort and was later taken in for questioning. On Friday night, NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey announced Mr Cenat was facing two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, among other charges that were not disclosed. Mr Maddrey confirmed that there had been no coordination with police ahead of the event. Mr Cenat has not spoken publicly about the incident. In total, police arrested 65 people, including 30 juveniles. Mr Cenat announced his giveaway in a Twitch stream on Wednesday, promising to hand out computers, Play Station 5s, microphones, keyboards, webcams, gaming chairs, headphones and giftcards. “I feel like New York really deserves it,” he said. Fans began gathering in Union Square at around 3pm Friday, an hour before Mr Cenat’s anticipated arrival. The park was quickly overwhelmed as the crowds spilled into the streets, with Mr Maddrey saying: “We went from 300 kids to a couple of thousands of kids in minutes.” The NYPD activated its highest level of disaster response, Level 4, after initial attempts to clear the crowds faltered and violence exploded. A citywide alert went out for every available officer across the five boroughs — up to 1,000 officers — to go straight to Union Square to deal with the rioting. Mr Maddrey said that the teenagers broke into a construction site in the square and threw rocks, bottles, paint cans and lit fireworks at officers. “Our officers were attacked, we were crushed, we were pushed, I had officers on the floor,” Mr Maddrey said. “You had people were walking around with shovels, axes... a lot of young people got hurt.” A line of police with clubs and shields smashed through the crowd at around 4.30pm, and began to regain control of the situation, according to reporters on the ground. One police officer was reportedly jumped by rioters and severely beaten. Mr Maddrey said he had been in the thick of the riot, and suffered injuries after being hit with flying objects. “As you see I’m a little embarrassed, I’m very dirty right here. “I was in the middle of the crowd, I was hit with a couple of objects as well. I think I have a couple of injuries but I’ll figure that out when I have time to think about it. “I had officers who were hit and were hurt, but they stayed to help us resolve this.” Mr Maddrey saw young people in the crowd with severe injuries, and suffering panic attacks and anxiety attacks. “People were suffering out here. It was a lot of people, it was uncontrolled, it took us a while to get it under control, and a lot of young people got hurt.” Many of the injuries were sustained by teenagers throwing objects at one another, he added. He said police were still gauging the exact number of injuries. Earlier, CBS News New York showed live video footage showing several people had climbed onto a roof at the entrance to Union Square. “Our officers used great restraint despite the aggression they were met with,” Mr Maddrey said. The gathering was declared an unlawful assembly, and officers tried to encourage them to leave the area. “After numerous warnings and assailed, we started to make arrests and clear out the park.” Traffic was snarled in streets surrounding the square, with groups of youths climbing on top of vehicles. People could be seen pounding on the side of a bus, and climbing on top of another bus and jumping up and down. The MTA prevented subway trains from stopping at Union Square for about an hour, before resuming regular services just before 5pm. A large amount of paint was splattered across the south side of Union Square Park. Police erected metal barricades to try to push the crowd back. They issued a warning over loudspeakers: “This gathering is unlawful. You are ordered to disperse. “If you leave voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you. If you refuse to leave you will be arrested for unlawful assembly.” After Union Square quieted down, Mr Maddrey said police were continuing to monitor groups of rioters who had spread out around Manhattan. “We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness where young people would not listen to our commands, they were fighting each other and they were hurting each other.” “This is the power of social media, the danger of social media,” Mr Maddrey said. “We can’t allow this to happen again.” Read More Who is Kai Cenat? YouTuber arrested after PS5 giveaway in New York descends into chaos Chaos unfolds among crowd gathered in NYC park for influencer’s event

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Declan Rice went to the World Cup surrounded by England team-mates who had won the biggest prizes in the game – now he is a £105million player who insists he is not fazed by the price tag having lifted European silverware and instantly taken to Champions League football. The 24-year-old admitted a year ago in Qatar that he wanted to play at the highest level and left West Ham in the summer after captaining them to Europa Conference League glory. Rice moved across London to Arsenal, joining the Gunners for a club-record fee and has hit the ground running with a run of fine performances for Mikel Arteta’s side. While previous big-money signings have seemingly been weighed down by hefty price tags, Rice has flourished in spite of it. “When the transfer was going through I was very nervous because of the price tag,” he said. “It’s natural to think about that. You’re a human being bought for £105m, it doesn’t feel very normal. But that was because of what I’d done at West Ham, what they valued me at. “When I signed for Arsenal, I just thought I just need to be Declan Rice, be myself, don’t be any different, everything will go smoothly. You’re a human being bought for £105million, it doesn’t feel very normal Declan Rice “The first three weeks of pre-season were really tough in terms of the change. When you’re at a new job you start to feel really settled after a few weeks. “That really feels the case now. In terms of the price tag, I don’t really think about it, I just play the games and try to play as well as possible. “Honestly, I just try to play my football. I don’t let it affect me in any way, shape or form. I just go to training, try to train as well as possible.” Rice’s England colleague Jack Grealish admitted he found talk of his £100m move to Manchester City “annoying” and that more was expected of him as a result of the big fee. “It’s £100m, it’s a lot of money, I could understand the pressure that comes with it,” added Rice. “Not only the pressure you put on yourself but there’s an expectation of being bought for that much money we need to see performances straight away. “I want to repay the club back straight away, they have invested a lot of money in me, I need to prove why I can go there and change things. “I can see why Jack struggled maybe at the start – mentally. He was a £100m footballer but as he wasn’t playing as much, it was probably as bit different for him. Now he’s flying and it’s the same for me.” Rice insists he always had faith in his ability to step up to the highest level and he has shone particularly brightly on Arsenal’s Champions League nights so far. “I won the trophy at West Ham, which was another level. It was incredible for me and the club. Now I’ve been playing on Champions League nights and been playing relatively well, but it’s something I always believed I could do,” he said. “It was just waiting for my chance and my opportunity. Every game that’s coming now, I’m just trying to take it step by step and perform on the biggest stage. “Speaking honestly, I feel I was playing as well at West Ham in my last season. Even though we didn’t have the best season as a team, I feel like I kicked on again. You never want to stay stale as a footballer. “You’re always looking to improve, always looking to get better. I still feel there’s so many more levels I can get to. It’s just about being eager to learn, practising on the training pitch, and always listening as well.” Rice has also called on England to end an unbeaten 2023 with a “bang” by winning their final Euro 2024 qualifier away to North Macedonia on Monday. England have not suffered defeat since their World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of France last December and sealed their spot at next summer’s finals with two games to spare. After a drab 2-0 win over Malta on Friday, Rice is keen for England to put in a better showing to bring the curtain down on a strong calendar year. “I think especially the other night after Malta there is just a bit of pride in ourselves that we need to raise our level,” the Arsenal midfielder said. “We need to put out a statement and it would be a good way to end the year. We are currently unbeaten since the World Cup so it is down to us to go out tomorrow night, put on a performance.” Read More Gareth Southgate targeting top of the world as England drive for Euros glory Rico Lewis hopes his versatility helps him make late push for Euro 2024 squad Trevor Lawrence leads Jacksonville Jaguars to victory against Tennessee Titans Scotland sign off on successful Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with six-goal thriller Ludvig Aberg keen to ‘love golf for long time’ after clinching RSM Classic title Luke Humphries continues stunning rise with Grand Slam of Darts success

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