The Canadian National Exhibition says it’s re-evaluating the future of Youth Day after three people were arrested amid fights and other “havoc” at the fairgrounds Tuesday night.

“There were some unruly attendees at the fair who kind of ruined the evening for everybody else,” said CNE general manager Virginia Ludy.

The CNE closed down nearly three hours earlier than scheduled Tuesday night due to safety concerns.

A 16-year-old girl, and a boy, also 16, have been charged with assaulting a police officer, while another male, 17, has been charged with drug possession, according to Sgt. Steve French.

The 16-year-old-girl attempted to escape during her arrest and was then pepper sprayed by police. She was given medical assistance for the spray said police.

Police were initially called after 9 p.m. for reports of gunshots, which they later said were false.

The skirmishes were mainly pushing and shoving, staff Sgt. Andrew Stinson said.

The CNE also shut down Youth Day early last year as well, due to large crowd sizes.

The Youth Day promotion – which sees admission prices drop to $6 before 3 p.m. and offers discounted rides – is in its sixth year, and Ludy said that given the difficulties this year and last, it may be time to retire the initiative.

“We’ll make that determination in the fall,” Ludy said. “First and foremost we have to think about the safety of our customers and our visitors here.”

Mayor John Tory, speaking at a press conference on the poverty reduction strategy Wednesday, said he looks forward to hearing the CNE's recommendation on continuing Youth Day next year.

“They have their own board and they will have a discussion about that as they’ve said they’re going to do and I think that’s perfectly appropriate for them to do that given that there’s been two years in a row of trouble,” Tory said. “Fortunately it didn’t evolve into anything really serious but it had the potential to.”

“Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing,” he said of offering the discounted day at the CNE.

There were roughly 70,000 people at the fairgrounds on Tuesday, Ludy said. Last year Youth Day drew around 80,000 people but that still pales in comparison to the numbers that organizers see on weekends.

“When it’s an air show weekend we always expect crowds in the six figures,” Ludy said.

She said the crowds of youth who caused problems Tuesday night were there for a specific purpose.

“I believe that they were down here to start creating a little bit of havoc, and they did that,” Ludy said.

Youth started arriving and gathering in large groups, Ludy said. As the crowds grew, so did the tension. Different groups of youth started jostling each other and then running away in what appeared to be a coordinated manner, Ludy said.

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“If it was just them and they wanted to run around, they could do that but when you’ve got people with strollers and people in wheelchairs and elderly people, and that mix in the crowd, then we have to take steps to protect public safety,” Ludy said.

David Hart, who was visiting the Ex with his friends, said he saw a group of about 60 people running through the park earlier in the night.

“They all just started running in one direction, scared the crap out of everybody, nobody knew what was going on, and then 20 minutes later, the same thing in another direction,” Hart said.

“Just scared the hell out of everybody.”

Hart was in line for a ride, he said, when a “frantic” employee told him that the grounds might be shut down in the next 10 minutes.

Around 9:30 p.m., all the lights and rides were shut off.

Ryan Daly said he arrived at the Ex with his fiancée and two children around 8 p.m. He said there were groups of teenagers “running around all over the place, having little fights all over the place,” adding he kept hearing about small scuffles from family members who were in different parts of the CNE.

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said Tuesday night that officers were on scene assisting with crowd control as the people tried to depart at once.

“There are more people than can be accommodated on each train,” she said, adding that riders were being very patient.

The CNE was set to resume regular hours Wednesday, said French.

According to French, the 17-year-old male will appear in court Wednesday morning.

The 16-year-old girl was charged with two counts of assault to a police officer, and one charge for obstructing a police officer. She is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning.

With files from Vjosa Isai, Alina Bykova, Jesse Winter, and Ebyan Abdigir