Hollywood Boulevard has reopened after being shut down by police, who made mutiple arrests while subduing a rowdy crowd.
Police donned riot gear and fired bean bags at unruly partiers hurling rocks and setting fires on Hollywood Boulevard after being turned away from an invitation-only party and screening of a movie about a popular rave festival.
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The screening of "Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" at Grauman's Chinese Theater was scheduled to coincide with a "block party" promoted by DJ Kaskade, a favorite among fans of eletronic dance music or EDM, who encouraged his fans to join the festivities in a Tweet sent earlier in the day.
The Tweet read: "Today@6pm in Hollywood @Mann's Chinese Theatre. ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!! RT!"
Chad Anderson, a Kaskade fan, arrived at 6 p.m. for the festivities.
But when a crowd estimated at more than a thousand converged, the gathering near Hollywood and Highland turned violent, with some members of the crowd throwing rocks and bottles and vandalizing patrol cars, according to a spokesman with the Los Angeles Police Department.
"There was so many people down here that we couldn't all fit on the sidewalk, so some people were in the streets," Anderson said. "Then the cops ended up coming, and they were trying to get people out of the streets, but there was really nowhere to go."
Amateur video captured on a cell phone camera showed vandals jumping on top of a police car. At least two people were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism. No injuries were reported.
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"It was really wild. I saw them bringing guns out, and a lot of people were afraid," according to Aryan Rab, who traveled from San Francisco to see the movie, and hear Kaskade, but instead found himself being pushed away by police.
The LAPD shut down Hollywood Boulevard to traffic and essentially forced businesses along the popular tourist and nightlife stretch to bar their doors, keeping shoppers, diners and club-goers penned inside.
About 150 tourists were trapped inside Madame Tussauds when the chaos broke out.
"All of the businesses on the boulevard are closed, which, this is a peak summer trading, said Colin Thomas, general manager of Madame Tussauds. "This is absolutely ridiculous, and also it does nothing for Hollywood Boulevard."
The Metro Red Line station at Hollywood and Highland was shuttered, and buses were re-routed to steer clear of the area.
DJ Kaskade sent out multiple Tweets throughout the night, calling for calm and entreating the crowd to disperse. "EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO HOME NOW! I DON'T WANT THIS TO REFLECT BADLY ON EDM OR WHAT WE ARE ABOUT," he Tweeted. "BE RESPECTFUL AND CHILL OUT!!
