LOSANGELES -- Bands of youths frustrated when they could not get into a sold-out movie rampaged in the normally subdued university area of Westwood Village, smashing windows and looting 24 stores before police quelled the riot early Saturday, authorities said.
The rampaging youths were part of a crowd of 1,000 to 1,500 that had gathered outside Mann's Village Theater in the upscale shopping, entertainment and dining area near the UCLA campus, hoping to get into the sold-out 10 p.m. showing of the new film 'New Jack City,' police said.
'The crowd that arrived to view the movie was much larger than the capacity of the theater,' said Sgt. Nick Barbara, who was the field commander with six officers assigned to monitor the movie's opening night at the theater.
The theater had sold out both of the evening shows earlier in the day. Saturday's screenings were canceled as a precaution against further trouble.
'The crowd flowed out into the street and became so large that it interfered with traffic to the point that we had to completely stop traffic,' he said.
Police asked the crowd to clear the street so traffic could use the roadway, he said. But the crowd, made up of mostly black youths wanting to see the film starting Wesley Snipes, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, Chris Rock and rap star Ice-T, refused to cooperate and more officers were called.
The youths continued to mill in the street, ignoring police requests to move, Barbara said.
'The crowd,' he said, 'displayed defiance.'
Before enough officers could arrive to clear the street, the crowd became 'very unruly (and) agitated and began breaking windows and looting stores,' he said.
Barbara heard glass breaking and saw one youth making off with a bicycle looted from a nearby store. Businesses in the heart of the Westside area, including a clothing store, a record store, a bicycle shop and others were vandalized and looted. The riot centered along Galey Avenue on the western limits of Westwood Village.
The vandalism and looting was widespread, with 24 businesses damaged by the crowd. At least one youth danced on an American flag flung onto the roadway.
Police discounted reports that surfaced after the riot that linked the disturbance to the much-publicized March 3 beating of a black motorist by white officers that was videotaped by an amateur cameraman.
The tape was broadcast on television, prompting calls from minority community leaders for the resignation of Police Chief Daryl Gates and for investigation into the department's policies and record on the use of force by officers.
Officials believe the riot was sparked by frustration over not being able to get into the movie.
Police called a city-wide tactical alert and sent about 100 officers from across the city to Westwood Village to quell what Barbara called 'a small-scale riot.'
Several people suffered minor injuries and one suspect was badly cut looting a clothing store, police said.
Police called an ambulance for the bleeding suspect, but 'he escaped because the officers were surrounded by a large group and they helped him escape,' Barbara said.
Nine people were arrested during the melee. Six men were booked for failing to disperse, throwing a rock at a police car and burglary, he said.
Three teenage boys were booked on suspicion of burglary for looting bicycles from a shop.
It took officers in riot gear 2 hours to control the situation and clear the streets, he said. Westwood Village was reopened to traffic about 1:15 a.m.
An dollar estimate of the damage wasnot immediately available.
The film 'New Jack City' opened Friday across Southern California. It is a drama about urban crime and police. It stars rapper Ice-T and features cameo appearances by Public Enemy's Flavor Flav and 'Yo! MTV Rpas' host Fab 5 Freddy.
In New York, a fight between two groups of youths at a Friday night showing of 'New Jack City' spilled into the street where one teenager was shot and killed, police said.
Gabriel Williams, 19, was shot once in the chest and pronounced dead about 11:40 p.m. outside the Duffield Theater, police said. No arrests were made.
