A group of 100 skateboarders took over the Las Vegas Strip late Monday night and early Tuesday morning for Go Skate Day or Go Skateboarding Day.
However, the gathering in Las Vegas this year was far from peaceful. Many of the skateboarders broke into businesses and antagonized tourists.
Multiple social media posts with the hashtag #WildOnTheStrip encouraged skaters to meet at the Fashion Show mall bridge overnight and to skate to the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
At least one person was arrested and others may have been taken into temporary custody. Police called the parents of many of the skateboarders they detained. Most of the skaters were under the age of 20.
Several events occurred early Tuesday morning involving the skateboarders. In one event, 10 to 15 skateboarders entered the Fashion Show mall, wandered around, but then left without taking any property.
In another event, about 20 juveniles with skateboards entered the AM/PM at 3852 South Las Vegas Boulevard, took various food and alcohol items off the shelves, and left without paying.
Another event involved 100 who were riding in the right two travel lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard in the 3600 block. The skateboarders were disobeying traffic laws, yelling profanities at officers, and flashing obscene hand gestures.
The organizer of the event is defending the group, saying the event was meant to promote National Go Skateboarding Day.
"Skateboarding is not a crime, first of all, let's get that out there, skateboarding is not a crime, and should not be illegal in any way," Dustin Amato said.
According to a county ordinance passed in 2012, simply riding a skateboard down the Las Vegas Strip is not allowed.
But Amato did say there were too many people at the event.
"I mean when you get 200 kids together it's hard to control everybody, it's very unfortunate there's a few bad apples in the bunch that obviously did some things that we're not proud of," he said.
