The city of Montgomery, Alabama, is on edge after a large chaotic brawl broke out there over the weekend that seemed to divide along racial lines.

As John Yang reports, the altercation has the attention of Americans nationwide.

JOHN YANG: Amna, the incident occurred Saturday evening at Montgomery's Riverfront Park along the Alabama River.

A city riverboat was returning from a two-hour cruise, and a private pontoon boat was blocking the dock.

Police said the riverboat crew repeatedly used a loudspeaker to ask the men to move the pontoon boat.

Eventually, a co-captain took a small boat to the dock and tried to move it himself.

Videos of what happened next have gone viral on social media.

The group from the pontoon confronts the co-captain.

Words are exchanged.

One of the men from the pontoon throws a punch, and the brawl begins.

Several men are seen beating -- beating and kicking the co-captain.

More and more bystanders join in, and the police have to be called to break it up.

So far, three men from the pontoon have been charged with assault, and police say they're still investigating.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed is the first Black person to hold that office.

He was elected in 2019.

Mr. Mayor, what was your reaction?

What did you think, what did you feel when you saw that video?

STEVEN REED (D), Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama: Well, like many people are surprised and then shocked to see something like that happen for someone who was just doing his job.

I was disappointed, to say the least, and it was disturbing.

JOHN YANG: Are you satisfied with how the police have handled it and the charges so far?

STEVEN REED: Yes, I think our police department has handled it in a professional manner.

I think they have gone about this with leaving-no-stone-unturned mentality.

I think they have approached it with a very deliberate sense of urgency.

And I think the fact that we have one person in custody and a couple others that will be in custody shortly is proof-positive of the work that's been done by the men and women of our police department.

JOHN YANG: Were you surprised how quickly this spread on social media, that it went viral on social media so quickly?

STEVEN REED: Yes, definitely was surprised by that.

I think I probably have a better understanding of it now than I did Sunday evening, when I first kind of started getting some texts about it.

I'm amazed at how many people have viewed it and what conversations have come out of it.

But it's one of those things where you never can tell, in this day and age of camera phones, what people are going to be interested in and what they're not.

JOHN YANG: What -- I mean, this now becomes sort of what people think of Montgomery right now, huh?

How do you feel about that, especially this city that has violent racial history?

STEVEN REED: Yes, I would be cautious about casting aspersions on the city.

The perpetrators who have been identified and warrants have been signed on are not from Montgomery, number one.

I think, number two, it's important for people to understand that we're the second most visited tourist city in the state.

So, we want that to continue.

It's important to our economy.

It's important to the nation that they learn the history of the civil rights movement.

And that's what most of the tourists are coming here for.

So, I think that, when we consider the community itself, the community itself has responded very positively.

I think there's been no issues around this.

And I would say that the city has kind of come together around many of those who -- not just the co-captain, but even some of those on the crew, to say that we're glad somebody stopped something wrong from happening until the police could get there.

And that's not to say that people are condoning violence.

It's just that I think there's a sense here that we have seen a lot of progress in this city.

We certainly aren't perfect.

We certainly have more work to do.

But this is not indicative of who we are.

JOHN YANG: The -- on the videos, it looks like the fight breaks down along racial lines.

And CNN is now reporting that a witness of says that a racial slur was used against the captain before the fight began.

Do you think there's a -- this is race-related?

STEVEN REED: Well, look, I saw what you saw and what millions of other people saw.

I think, for us, we're looking at it from the standpoint of a legal case, and does it meet the FBI standard for hate crime?

So far, we have been told no.

But the case is still ongoing.

We're still talking to witnesses, and we're still gathering information.

And if something changes to point us in that direction, then that's where we will go.

JOHN YANG: Do you expect more charges as the investigation continues?

STEVEN REED: Yes, I think that's possible.

Again, I think, for us, it would be premature to say there would or would not be any additional charges.

As witnesses come forward, as more information comes out, there certainly could be.

And we're going to continue to follow the evidence and let that take us to whatever decisions that are made by not only the police department, but also our district attorney and anyone at a high-level prosecution.

JOHN YANG: You talked about the progress that's been made in Montgomery.

What's the state of racial relations in your -- in your city right now?

STEVEN REED: You know, I think progress is certainly measured by the fact that I'm here.

And I was elected in 2019 with two-thirds of the vote and a multicultural, multiracial, multigenerational coalition that we put together.

That said, there are still strains.

There's still a level of tension that probably is here, much like it is in a lot of places where there's old versus new.

There's a certain mind-set that has been prevailing, and there's a new one that's come in.

And I think, when you add to that the national discourse around whether it's Black history being taught in schools, or whether it's our legislature not adhering to a Supreme Court order to draw a second congressional seat as majority-Black, there are certainly challenges here.

But that's not to say that, when we think back 10 or 20 years ago, that we haven't come a long way.

It's just that we still have a long way to go.

And I think that is not just Montgomery.

I think that is many cities throughout this nation.

JOHN YANG: Steven Reed, mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, thank you very much.

STEVEN REED: Thank you.