‘I’ll stab you!’ Fans of rival YouTube influencers start MASSIVE FIGHT in Berlin (VIDEO)
More than a hundred police officers armed with riot control sprays were deployed against a brutal brawl that erupted during a massive ‘fan meet-up’ of rival YouTube influencers at Berlin's iconic Alexanderplatz.
Video from the scene shows a crowd of agitated young men having an argument which later descends into intense fistfights. Police cars are seen and heard in the footage.
It all started when German-Turkish blogger ThatsBekir, who boasts more than 260,000 subscribers on YouTube, called on his followers to assemble at Alexanderplatz.
There they would face the supporters of Bahar Al Amood, who is of Arab origin and runs a channel with 14,000 subscribers. It’s unclear what exactly prompted the confrontation on Thursday, but the two ‘influencers’ appeared to have been exchanging insults and feuding online for a while.
And their followers … well… followed. Police say some 400 showed up for a “fan meet-up” that quickly evolved into a brawl.
It’s not clear who threw the first punch, but some comments on social media suggested that ThatsBekir was attacked first. Around 50 people were involved in the battle, police say. A splinter group of 20 people continued the fight on a nearby metro platform, which was later closed down.
It took 100 officers to break up the fight and clear the square. One officer was pepper-sprayed, and another received light injuries from a physical altercation with the crowd. Police used riot control sprays during the operation.
#Berlin#Mitte#Alexanderplatz - Influencer kündigt Autogrammstunde an, etwa 250 Personen erscheinen, es kommt zu heftigen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den anwesenden Personen, mehrere Festnahmen, Messer sichergestellt pic.twitter.com/WLMOX0O7V0
— Polizeireporter-BM (@PolReporter) March 21, 2019
A total of nine people were detained. Two knives were confiscated by the police, as one man was reported shouting “I will stab you” while he was apprehended. Around a dozen investigations have been launched, for inflicting grave bodily harm and public disturbance, among other things.
The reports didn’t specify whether the YouTubers themselves were detained but both shared brief messages on social media after the conflict. “I feel bad. I hope I can talk tomorrow. I need a break,” ThatsBekir said. His opponent Al Amood apologized for the trouble with police, claiming that he initially wanted to resolve the conflict “by talking.”
The Berlin police union later blamed the violence on the German “rap scene” and slammed the influencers for “being negligent with their influence.”
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