The atmosphere created by some young people Thursday in Riverside Park during the Independence Day festivities turned as combustible as the fireworks.
Groups from outside the neighborhood, according to witnesses, started a number of fights and later wreaked havoc on Tonawanda Street by blocking traffic and jumping on cars before they were dispersed without arrests.
“It was a rough crowd,” said Annette Class, a Riverside resident who attended with her three children.
She was upset by both a fight that broke out in the front of the crowd during the fireworks show and also the behavior of some young people afterward.
“I think next year we’ll just watch it from our house,” she said. “It wasn’t a crowd I would want my children in, and I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone with younger children.”
A Buffalo police officer, who asked not to be named, confirmed some fights at the Friendship Festival, which includes carnival rides. The biggest problem was the crush of people that made it difficult to leave after the fireworks concluded.
The Police Department estimated the crowd at 20,000.
Making matters worse, the officer said, was a large group that briefly took over a street surrounding the park. “They all went on Tonawanda Street and they didn’t go home. They blocked traffic, they stood in the middle of the street, they were jumping on people’s cars. We just moved them out and got rid of them,” said the officer, who was not authorized to speak to the media.
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