Morningside Heights was rocked by violence early Saturday morning as separate fights erupted outside of two area bars.


Shortly after 3 a.m., police responded to a report of an unruly crowd at The West End, located between 113th and 114th streets on Broadway. According to witnesses, commotion inside the bar forced employees to close the restaurant at 3:10 a.m., 50 minutes before the legal last call.


A man on the scene said that there was a "big, big boisterous crowd" within The West End, and that there had been physical tension bubbling among the drinkers.


As customers were escorted out of the bar, a large crowd, which Public Safety officials said peaked at about 200 people, began forming outside of the Columbia-owned building.


Within several minutes, a glass display window was shattered at Aerosoles, a shoe store located in the same building as The West End. Pandemonium broke loose as the crowd streamed into the streets, making Broadway inaccessible between 113th and 115th Streets.


Several people were seen fleeing from the bar and jumping over the Broadway median strip. A number of separate brawls developed in the street, while many patrons remained inside the bar.


One witness said he saw a woman "knocked out cold" outside of the Morningside Heights branch of New York Public Library, located at 113th Street and Broadway. When another bystander attempted to help the woman up, she was limp.


"I figured it was a bad time to go to The West End," he said.


Public Safety and several witnesses contacted police, who dispatched units from the 26th, 28th, 30th, and 32nd precincts.


Around 3:20 a.m., police on the scene attempted to reestablish order by clearing the area of people. Four officers walked up the west side of Broadway, pushing dozens of bystanders back toward 116th Street. At least one handcuffed woman was forced into a police car.


By 3:25, less than fifteen minutes after the bar began to clear, most of the crowd had dispersed. Broken glass and collapsed metal barriers were strewn about the sidewalk in front of the bar.


Earlier in the evening, a separate fight erupted at Amsterdam Cafe and Tapas Lounge at the corner of 119th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. According to an employee of the bar, the fight began when a man standing outside spat at another man.


A police officer driving past the restaurant saw the fight, the employee said, stopped his car, and made an arrest. He indicated that as few as ten people had congregated outside.


An officer posted at The West End said that he did not believe the incidents were related, but estimated that ten to twenty arrests were made between the two.


Megan Greenwell and Theodore Orsher contributed to this article.