Police declined to elaborate about what has been posted on the social networking sites and searches yesterday didn't reveal any posts promoting a massive meet-up in the area Saturday night.
Published 20:59, May the 31st, 2009
Police say social sites led to riots
As he drove north on South Broad Street late Saturday, cabbie Mohammad Hollah couldn't believe what he saw coming his way.
A huge crowd of teenagers, which Mollah estimated at about 1,000, were walking south near Catharine Street.
"I got out of there," he said as he filled his gas tank at the Sunoco station there yesterday. " I went to the other side of town."
Mollah's instinct proved right as some of the migrating mass — which police believe was partly organized through online networking sites MySpace and Twitter — went on to ransack the Sunoco shop and pull two drivers from vehicles on South Street.
One group of teens attacked a female driver and her male counterpart, while another stole a cab and smashed it after a short joy ride.
"There was a smaller gathering last week, but nothing like this," police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said. "We're looking into how they're communicating over MySpace and Twitter."
Police this week will ask the city court system to begin a night court, possibly starting next weekend, to deal with any future unruly gatherings, Vanore said yesterday, adding that more officers will also be deployed in South Philadelphia.
