Multiple people hurled chairs at one another in a wild brawl that engulfed a seafood restaurant in New York City, police said.
Video footage of the incident captured a scene of chaos at 9:45 p.m. Thursday night at Seafood City on City Island Avenue in the Bronx.
The video shows people using chairs as shields and throwing them all over the place across the restaurant dining room.
The video gained traction on social media Friday with the phrase, “Don’t go to City Island if you can’t fight,” the Daily Mail reported.
Seafood City’s management said alcohol was a factor in causing the fight, although the reason for the clash is unclear.
Restaurant management posted signs saying the restaurant closed as of 6 p.m. Friday and stopped serving alcohol.
Restaurant patrons say the fight is nothing new, and is the latest of several violent outbursts that have happened as a result of a lack of security at the larger restaurants along City Island Avenue.
The community has been “addressing issues at Seafood City for some time now,” John Doyle of the City Island Civic Association told the New York Daily News.
“This is very concerning, but the thing to keep in mind is that this is not a reflection on the community overall,” Doyle added.
Doyle said he plans to contact the state liquor authority and has asked the NYPD about getting off-duty police officers to act as security for these businesses.
“If they’re going to bring that volume in they are responsible,” he said. “We need to come up with a systematic approach here, because if we’re playing whack-a-mole no one wins.”