Two unidentified young men were part of a melee that broke out at Broad and Front streets moments before the fireworks show. (Click to enlarge)
A number of fights erupted during the celebration of the 51st annual Red Bank fireworks show Saturday night.
Police said they had arrested an estimated ten persons by 11p Saturday, mostly on disorderly behavior charges related to alcohol consumption.
No arrests were believed to have been made, however, in connection with a brawl involving eight or ten teenage males at the town’s busiest intersection Broad Street at the juncture of East and West Front streets just minutes before the fireworks show began.
Police surround an unidentified man who they say took a swing at an officer as they went to break up a fight at Broad and Boat Club Way after the fireworks. (Click to enlarge)
During that fight, which was preceded by large groups of youths gathering in circles and chanting “USA,USA,” participants spilled onto the the sidewalk in front of a row of stores, and one you man was nearly thrown into a plate-glass window. Others grappled in a street strewn with broken bottles.
Though police had been in the immediate vicinity just minutes earlier, they were apparently unaware of the brawl, which was witnessed by dozens of spectators. Police arrived after the participants in the fight had largely moved on.
Later, a report of a brewing fight on West Front at Boat Club Way triggered a heavy police response. At least one man was arrested for taking a swing at an officer, though witnesses said the man had not been part of the original violence.
Afterward, at the train station, which was the scene of many of the 20 arrests made after last year’s show, a large crowd waited patiently for outbound trains and appeared to board without incident.
