MIAMI (WSVN) - A massive presence of police officers was seen surrounding Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami on New Year’s Day after a big crowd of unruly juveniles created disturbing chaos at night.
A video showed a large group of teenagers setting off firecrackers on the road, as well as running, scattered all over and screaming.
Miami Police have closed off the area as well as businesses in Bayside that have closed up their shops for the rest of Monday night.
They also said that multiple fights broke out and the teenagers were possibly armed with sticks.
“They just started fighting,” said Eduardo Thompson, a teenager who witnessed the brawls. “They just got crazy. And then the police were coming up to everybody, telling them crazy stuff.”
Dozens of city-wide police cars are seen lining up the road for crowd control.
Video footage showed firecrackers explode in the middle of the street as crowds dispersed.
Marcus Ramey spoke with 7News after his siblings sent him a live-stream video of what was happening.
“When I joined the live, I first see them running to the girl and I see the girl waiting in the field because she was cornered from them, a group of them cornered her,” he said. “That’s when [a girl] ran up on her and they started fighting in the video and started tussling and another girl jumped in and they started fighting. Somebody said there goes the police and everybody started scattering and running.”
Earlier, lanes in Biscayne Boulevard between Second and Fourth Street were blocked temporarily, but have since re-opened.
Though no injuries were reported, it was a scary night for many who were just trying to have some fun.
“It was very chaotic because they said there was more than one fight happening at the same time from different live[streams],” said Ramey. “So it’s crazy. We’re out here trying to have fun.”
Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.
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