ANKARA

A popular YouTube and Twitch streamer faced a charge of provoking a riot on Friday when an event at a central square in New York City where he planned to hand out video game consoles turned into chaos, according to local media.

A large crowd gathered at Manhattan's Union Square Park for livestreamer Kai Cenat's game console giveaway event, daily New York Times newspaper reported.

While a crowd of several hundred people tore down construction barricades and hurling objects, police urged people to avoid the square.

The police also detained some of the participants.

Besides the riot charge, Cenat was expected to be charged with "unlawful assembly" and, potentially, other crimes, New York Times quoted Jeffrey Maddrey, the chief of police department, as saying.