PHILADELPHIA, March 28 (UPI) -- Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter took to the streets and warned would-be flash-mobbers that the city would "not tolerate nonsense."
With his wife and daughter, Nutter strolled Saturday night along South Street, where a gathering of hundreds of teens in a flash mob a week earlier led to brawls, assaults, vandalism and arrests, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday.
"If you want to come out and have a good time, you should do that, whether you're a teenager or think of yourself as a teenager," Nutter said at a news conference before his walk. "But we will not tolerate nonsense."
Police stood on almost every corner of the busy strip stretching more than nine blocks along South Street.
"You don't know where people are going to pop up, if they pop up at all," Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said.
Flash mobs -- in which teens organize a large gathering through the Internet and text messages -- have hit Philadelphia four times since December, three of them on South Street, the Inquirer said.
Along with public safety concerns, city officials worry bad publicity from the flash mobs would keep visitors away and hurt business.
"We think it's important, given some of the things that happened in the city ... to demonstrate our love and commitment for Philadelphia," Nutter said.
He paused to greet pedestrians and restaurant workers, including Seth Kaufman, 20, who was hit in the face at Olympia II pizzeria during last weekend's flash mob.
"I'm really sorry," Nutter said. "How you doing?"
Later, Kaufman said of the mayor: "He made things happen. More cops showed up."
