In the span of just over three hours, streets in four Massachusetts communities were taken over by dangerous, 100-person crowds — including one that ended with a Boston police cruiser set on fire.

Another takeover saw an officer nearly struck by a stolen car and an ambulance blocked on the road, and at least two incidents involved fireworks directly shot at police.

Street takeovers — where large groups gather to look at cars, race, do donuts and drive recklessly — have surged across the state over the past six months, Michael Bradley, the executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, told MassLive.

Read more: Crowds attacked police in violent assaults across Mass.: What to know

While these events aren’t new, Bradley said they’ve been flagged as a national pu

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