**Up to 10 police officers were injured after scuffles broke out when 2,000 people descended on London’s Brick Lane for a sale by a US clothing chain.**The Met Police said it was called to the American Apparel event, the first day of a planned four-day sale, because of the unexpected turnout.
The firm stopped the event, blaming the “dangerous behaviour” of people in the line, but plan to open on Saturday.
A police spokesman said three people were arrested on public order offences.
He said officers were called to the scene at 1015 BST because of the large crowd.
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He said: "The organisers were unable to ensure the safety of the public and decided to close the event.
“Police had not been notified in advance of the numbers expected to attend. The organisers were spoken to by police.”
He said the 10 police officers had minor injuries.
The sale had been advertised on social networking websites with offers of items starting from £1 and 85% discounts.
‘Get there early’
The company had said it had hired more than 22,000 sq ft (2,044 sq m) of space especially for the sale.
It had urged customers to “get there early” and said more than 50,000 people had come to similar sales in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, San Diego, Miami, Berlin and Austin.
In a statement, American Apparel apologised and said Friday’s response to the Rummage Sale event in London was “overwhelming and humbling”.
"Some unfortunate and downright dangerous behaviour in the queue prompted the police to temporarily close the event down until they could ensure security for everyone involved.
"In our many rummage sales, we’ve never witnessed anything like it and are disappointed and sorry that it happened.
"Fortunately we were able to work out an urgent arrangement for extra security that will allow us to continue to run the rummage sale as planned this weekend and Monday."This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.