New Jersey state police had bottles thrown at them at a hip-hop concert at MetLife Stadium by fans, some without tickets, who were trying to get inside . They later used teargas to try to disperse them, according to officials.

Crowds at the Hot 97 Summer Jam concert became upset when the gates were closed and blocked off by police in riot gear. An armoured police vehicle began blasting a piercing loud noise to try to disperse the crowd. Additional troops were sent for and arrests were made, police spokesman, Sgt Gregory Williams, told the Associated Press.



The disturbance began when crowds of people tried to force their way into the sold-out event by climbing over fences and forcing their way through security, state police said in a statement on Sunday night. Police said they insisted everyone outside the gate leave the stadium complex to avoid congestion when the concert ended.

Videos and photos posted by people on social media showed fights between concertgoers and police in riot gear blocking the entrance to the stadium in East Rutherford. Images also showed police using large military-style vehicles to try to disperse the crowds.

Janae Griffin, who drove up from Baltimore for the concert but couldn’t get in, said scenes at the parking lots were chaotic.

“People were throwing bottles across the crowd,” she said. “We got into a confrontation with a guy who was deliberately trying to vandalise a police car and was just making it worse of a situation than it needed to be.”

The concert is hosted annually by a New York radio station and was headlined on Sunday by Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, Big Sean and Chris Brown.

Emmis New York, which owns Hot 97, said in a statement that refunds would be offered for ticket-holders whose tickets were not scanned. They said “a small number of people created an unsafe environment” and the New Jersey state police were on the scene to disperse the crowd.

It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries.