Concertgoers rampaged downtown after police stopped a free outdoor show that officers feared was getting out of hand. At least two dozen people were injured and at least 18 were arrested, police said.
"Everyone just went crazy," said Mike Martin, 19. "The emcee on stage said, `This isn't L.A., don't be like L.A.' . . . People were running everywhere. It was like a swarm of people."Police decided to stop the comedy and music concert Thursday night at City Hall Plaza after the "unruly crowd" of about 20,000 ignored orders to quit surging toward the stage, said police Superintendent William Bratton.
Several minor fights had broken out by that time, he said.
Martin, who was visiting from Houston, said people, many of whom had been drinking alcohol, threw milk crates and bottles upon hearing that the show had been halted. Three acts had already performed.
Several hundred people spilled out into a nearby neighborhood, smashing the windows of cars and stores and setting fires in trash cans and mailboxes, police said.
An athletic store was looted and a convenience store was ransacked by a mob of about 30 people. The store manager was hit in the face, said store clerk Nahusenay Kassa, 18.
Police had the area under control within a few hours.
At least two dozen people were injured, some of whom were assaulted and others who were pushed around in the crowd.
Most seriously injured was a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed in the stomach, Bratton said. James J. Harvey III underwent emergency surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and was listed in stable condition Friday.