Video appears to show looting after Boston Marathon bombing

A video shot by a bystander in the wake of Monday's Boston Marathon bombings, showing people taking expensive marathon jackets from a booth near the site of the explosion, has sparked anger over the alleged looting.

The video, posted on Reddit, shows people surrounding a booth and taking jackets meant for finishers from a tent near the finish line.

While it is clear from the video that some people were grabbing more than one jacket, some commenters have disputed their motives, including one YouTube commenter who said he was there.

"They were grabbing the jackets to use as tourniquets you idiots!" wrote spicymeatsandwich. "That's the reason I grabbed an entire boxful, plus you can see me heading right back towards the injured."

Another commenter, Sim Salabim wrote people were taking the jackets " "to comfort the injured or those who could not go back to the hotel."

"Yes, some people took advantage of it, what can you do," he wrote, in a now-deleted comment, "but it's not looting what you see."

Gawker, which has concluded the video does not show looting, wrote:

"Indeed, the unhurried, casual pace of the crowd doesn't suggest that they thought the were engaged in an illicit activity. It's certainly possible, we suppose, that a large crowd of people could unanimously elect to browse, at a leisurely pace, a bunch of merchandise and steal it in full view of cameras and in the midst of an overwhelming police presence. But it seems far more likely to us that they were given the impression that the jackets were being made available for free."