YouTube face-off: Berlin police break up mass brawl
- Published
More than 100 police officers were deployed to break up a mass brawl in Berlin reportedly organised by two rival YouTube stars.
The fight broke out on Thursday evening in one of the main squares in the German capital, police said. Nine people were injured.
More than 400 people had gathered after two social media influencers reportedly urged their fans to join a face-off.
As tensions escalated, a large melee involving around 50 people erupted.
Officers used pepper spray and tear gas after attempts to disperse the crowds in Alexanderplatz with loudspeakers failed.
As police intervened, clashes spilled over in a nearby subway, where rocks picked up from railway lines were reportedly thrown.
Two officers were injured and six people were treated for eye irritation from tear gas, Berlin Morgenpost reports.
The brawl was the result of a "dispute" between two rival YouTube stars from Berlin and Stuttgart, according to local media reports.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
In social media posts, the YouTubers, named as "Thatsbekir" and "Bahar Al Amood" by German media, both denied they were at fault for the brawl.
Norbert Cioma, head of Berlin's Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GDP) police union, called on social media celebrities with vast followings to be more responsible.
"We see in the rapper scene, and increasingly also with other influencers, that they are sometimes very negligent with their influence," he said.
- Published23 January 2019
- Published24 January 2019
- Published14 March 2019
- Published1 November 2016
