Shibuya Halloween– Youngsters Rampage Around a Police Car

Late at night on October 30, the Halloween revelry reached its peak on Inokashira Street near Hands (formerly Tokyu Hands) in Shibuya. Young people were also hanging out at the end of “Basketball Street (Center Street),” which was crowded with people in costumes.

A white minivan was making its way down Inokashira Street, cutting through the crowd. The tailgate of the car was open, and inside was a full load of huge speakers, playing club music so loudly that conversation became impossible.

Like a portable shrine at a festival, the minivan was led by an agitated group of young people, and people filmed the scene from the sidewalk. When the car parked in front of a convenience store near Hands, the crowd grew even larger, and young people gathered to dance as if it were an outdoor festival venue.

Then, perhaps unable to ignore the noise and crowd, a police car came up behind them.

“Some of the young people who had been parading with the minivan blocked the path of the police car, surrounded it, and began to dance. The policemen tried to calm the commotion with loudspeakers from inside the car, but to no avail. Some of them put their hands on the hood of the police car, as if to say, ‘If you’re going to run over me, run over me! Some of them put their hands on the hood of the police car and said, “If you’re going to run over me, then run over me.”

“Some of the people surrounding the police car were wearing hoodies and down jackets with matching logos. I think they were probably in the same group,” said a person who was there.

Speaking of Halloween in Shibuya, one is reminded of the riot in 2006, when a group of youths overturned a light truck in a stampede, resulting in the arrest of four people. The police officers on board must have been horrified, wondering if they would suffer the same fate.

And, above all, the night before, there was a tragic crowd avalanche in Itaewon, South Korea, in which more than 150 people were killed. Did they not consider that their actions, driven by a momentary tension, might endanger their own lives or someone else’s?