By Catherine Sodano, Staff Writer
On Friday, November 20, pandemonium struck the Roosevelt Field mall. Justin Bieber was scheduled to meet and greet fans outside the girls clothing store Justice. Fans had camped out from the night before in the parking garage to catch a glimpse; hopefuls were even expecting to leave with a picture and an autograph of the 15-year-old Canadian singing sensation.
There were caution tapes lining the surrounding area, Nassau County Police and mall security everywhere- but that alone could not hold down the furious fans as they learned the event was canceled due to the overwhelming turnout that was mobbing the mall. The tears started flowing with every broken 12-year-old heart that learned this news. Mothers grew irate as they just wasted their time camping out on frozen stone cold concrete in a parking garage all night. Fans even traveled from as far as Texas to wait on this line to meet Bieber. The cancelation of this event caused mass hysteria and fans and mothers alike started rioting. The police began informing people to leave the property and go home at about 2 pm, two hours before the 4 pm scheduled meet and greet was even supposed to begin.
The mall then was over flooded with 6 thousand extra people over its regulatory acceptable safety capacity limit. The remaining people outside tried to bombard cops and overpower them; the police officers then joined hands and stood in a line to make a human blockade in front of the entrance doors into the mall.
Police could not control the crowd, and a pregnant woman from Long Island who was at the mall to shop got trampled by the crowd and was taken away in an ambulance. That wasn't the only injury due to this riot; a mom broke her arm because she got shoved up against the wall and could not move and people were passing out because of the extreme heat due to the amount of people on top of one another. Even the teenage fans grew aggressive. A police officer got hold of a megaphone and made an announcement to the crowd "This event is cancelled everyone, go home. If you do not leave the property you will be arrested!" A 15-year-old girl stepped underneath the caution tape, wound up, and struck the police officer. The girl and her mother were later apprehended and physically escorted out of the mall.
This riot drew national attention. According to sources, mall security has admitted to saying they had no idea Bieber was even coming to the mall until the morning of. However, the seemingly saddened Bieber has promised to his Long Island fans that he will in fact, be back to do a meet and greet and perform and he will "make it up" to his LI fans.
Thousands of fans showed up at the Roosevelt Field Mall (Cell phone picture courtesy of Catherine Sodano)