UNION SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) — Thousands of people overran Union Square Park and surrounded lanes of traffic Friday as a popular Twitch streamer held a video game giveaway.

Just before 5 p.m. police said they were gaining the upper hand on the crowd as many people began to disperse.

NYPD sources told Eyewitness News they did not want to arrest people and they did not want to escalate the situation further.

Despite that guidance, Eyewitness News observed several arrests being made as prisoners were loaded unto an MTA bus.

The department had initiated a level 4 mobilization which would deploy up to 1,000 officers to the scene.

Over the last few days, Kai Cenat, one of the most popular streamers on the video game streaming website Twitch, announced that he would give away Playstation 5 video game consoles at 4 p.m. in Union Square.

Thousands of people showed up and took over the park and the roads bordering it as police struggled to contain them.

NYPD flooded the scene and pushed the crowd away, making sure they didn’t come back toward Union Square.

Robert Boyce, former NYPD Chief of Detectives, said that its important to “understand that the streams of kids running away from people, they could create mayhem somewhere else, they have to be followed.”

He added, “this is