Four NBA players are suspended indefinitely following their participation in a bizarre brawl that saw some of them fighting in the stands with fans.

The suspended players are Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson of the Indiana Pacers and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons.

"Shocking, repulsive and inexcusable" were the three words NBA Commissioner David Stern used on Saturday to describe the Friday night incident, which occurred at Joe Louis Arena in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

However, Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors said it's one thing to boo players and another thing to throw stuff at them...

"If you were walking down the street and someone threw a beer at you would you walk away?" Carter told CFTO News on Saturday.

When he was asked if players should protect themselves, he superstar said, "I think they have a right like any other person."

However, Stern said in his statement: "This demonstrates why our players must not enter the stands, whatever the provocation or poisonous behavior of people attending the games."

The league said in a statement that it was reviewing its security procedures and policies "so that fans can continue to attend our games unthreatened by events such as the ones that occurred last night."

I didn't start it. I just played the game," Wallace told The Associated Press on Saturday before learning of his suspension. "The league is going to do whatever they feel needs to be done, and I don't have no problems with that."

None of the Pacers players have commented yet.

Artest aggressively fouled Wallace with less than a minute remaining in the game. He responded by giving Artest a hard, two-handed shove.

Artest was lying on the scorer's table when a fan threw a beer cup and hit him in the face. Artest, who has a reputation as a hothead, then charged into the stands to confront the person he believed had thrown the cup.

Pacer Stephen Jackson also went into the stands and punched another fan in the face.

Yet another fan sucker-punched Artest from behind.

O'Neil struck a fan on the court and had a chair thrown at him.

Six people were eventually treated for injuries incurred during the roughly three-minute-long incident. The remainder of the game was cancelled.

The Pacers players were pelted with popcorn and drinks by angry fans as they left the court. Children could be seen crying.

"I've never seen anything like it. It's not the way it's supposed to be," veteran Pistons coach Larry Brown told reporters.

Local police are reviewing tapes of the incident.

The last instance of a player going into the stands was Vernon Maxwell in 1995. He was suspended 10 games and fined $20,000 US.

One of the harshest non-drug-related suspensions in NBA history was imposed on Latrell Sprewell, who tried to choke a coach at practice. He was suspended for 68 games.

Report from CTV's Denelle Balfour and files from The Associated Press