The mounted patrol led the charge
So once again a throng of Umass students got a tad out of control, refused to comply with orders to disperse and were then convinced to go back to their dorms by a combined assault of horses, dogs, a sound truck issuing high pitched alien like noise and a small army of police -- some looking like Darth Vader in their riot gear.
UMPD firing pellets into the crowd (burning sugar)
But it was the horses that commanded the undivided attention of the crowd, as they hurriedly went into retreat mode.
UMass police made at least ten arrests and there were no injuries. AFD was called by the father of a student saying she was asthmatic and having problem breathing because of the chemicals shot into the crowd by police pellet guns.
Back up army of police followed the horses chasing the crowd north to Massachusetts Avenue
Turns out UMPD only used burning sugar and the kids thought it was tear gas, thereby bringing about almost the same result.
State PD and UMass EMS EMTs
UMass had provided a large screen TV, food, bouncy houses, and a multi-station barbecue set up in Southwest to try to give the students something to do, but by the time the game ended the crowd had grown into the thousands.
Haze over playing field opposite Southwest from barbecues
Then some nitwits decided to climb the trees in the center of the courtyard, and then full bottles of water started flying in the cops direction.
Sound truck emitted high pitch annoying sound
That's when police moved in to end the celebration almost at the stroke of midnight.
17 comments:
Fine coverage, thanks.
Did you notice the dog? Wagging tail -- he was ready to party unless given a command to work.
Amherst being so anti-commerce/development of any type hasn't fallen off the face of the Earth because the ever-present population of UMass, Amherst College, and Hampshire College drives the town's economy. Whether it be through eating at restaurants, tax revenue from rental properties, or the income tax of professors and staff that work at these institutions, that money comes from these students. Without it, Amherst would've ceased to exist long ago. The very ability of this town to have enormous amounts of open space, to keep out "big" business, to grossly overspend on administrative endeavors, and maintain its un-realistic ideaology while still getting the bills paid only happens because of these institutions and their students. While these facts could never justify some of the behavoir, Amherst is a college town and this type of behavoir is part of the price to pay for Amherst to be what it is and exist under its ideaologies. If people think it's such a terrible place because of these students, live somewhere else. If people think these students are ruining their "right" to a peaceful existence, perhaps they should spend some time in Syria or the gang ridden neighborhoods of Chicago, or the flats of Holyoke just a few miles down the river. Even with the sometimes annoying students, residents of this town have it far better than they know.....or WANT to know.
Wonder what the price tag in police overtime was.
Photos on masslive give you a sense of the trash and the obscene gesturing at cops.
For those to whom much is given, much cleaning up is done, and many allowances are made.
I think that students who enroll in college have a right to an education. Isn't that what college is? If young people want to party out of control, feel free to do so in your own home town, where your parents, teachers and everyone else can see what a drunk loser you have become.
College does not guarantee one's right to party beyond control. Umass needs to make an example of those who are arrested so the rest of the students know the rules have teeth. Expel them. Who cares? There are plenty more kids who want to go to college and learn.
Most Umass students are not drunk losers. Indeed the vast majority did not get arrested. Be careful not to condemn all for the idiocy of a very few.
But do pull your head out of the sand Umass and expel these idiots. Clearly, they are not at Umass to get a world class education.
Seems a pretty simple problem to figure out. Now the Umass administration just needs to find some courage.
Guys in yellow jackets are the UMass EMS folks, good to see them getting more responsibility, albeit under less-than desirable circumstances
They were smart enough the hang tight with MSP.
A lot of yelling, throwing of garbage, climbing trees, but where's the riot?
The cops were the only ones that used force.
What did the University expect hosting an event like this and inviting thousands of students? Of course there are going to be a few kids that get out of hand, but this certainly was not a riot.
And 3:19 pm, that's why only a few got arrested...
Likely, 3:19 PM, if you were in the dorms or surrounding residential neighborhoods and simply trying to sleep so that you could get to work the next day, you'd think otherwise. If bottles were thrown at people and they were loud and disruptive, that sounds like a riot to me. Looks like a mob from the pictures. Sounds like it was quite disruptive to the peace of the residents based on the videos.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/riot
I was there, going to grab some food around midnight (turns out the dc was closed). Things didn't really get rowdy until the police intervened. It was actually really calm until they used the screeching sound-thingy, and that just whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Before that, people were already leaving. I wouldn't quite call it a riot.
For those of you who disdain this event: things like this build community. Don't get me wrong; I haven't gone out of my way to watch a sports game or go to a party for years, and I don't even drink any kind of alcohol. But I think it would be ignorant and perhaps even arrogant to comdemn an entire student body on such a flimsy basis - even wishing that they received harsher punishment. Police action during this event was in most cases unjustified, and the damage caused by the students was minimal. And I know it might come to a surprise to some, but college is about more than learning. It's also about socializing, something that I wish I, as a PhD program applicant, wish I had done.
boston's approach after learning the umass p.d. always wanters to act tough…
"The Boston Police has been criticized for being too aggressive with large crowds, but the department has taken precautions to change this reputation such as by no longer carrying intimidating riot gear. Instead, they will keep that equipment in their cars, only to be used if the crowd is out of control.
“We used to put our equipment on and show people we were ready for a fight,” Linskey said. But now, “we want to show that we’re ready for a celebration.”
If this is your idea of community building, I'm glad I don't live in Amherst. I live in a wonderful neighborhood. But we are generally asleep by 10 PM and the neighborhood is silent. We respect one another. We're also individuals who (gasp) work for a living.
Larry has it ever occurred to you that the dispersal orders are illegal!!!!
The SJC has ruled on that statute but once -- and argued that it did not apply to a prison riot because the inmates had a right to be in the prison. And students have a right to be on campus.
Did you know that this is a 1750 British Colonial Statute that is still on the books -- and didn't we fight a war against the British because we didn't like this sort of thing being done?
Ignore Dr. Ed, it's starting to work. Keep it up everybody.
Larry, why did you want to remove burning tobacco from bars?Anyone care to speculate all the fun things that burning sugar produces? And if I am not mistaken -- there are explicit warnings to only use in well ventilated areas which Southwest is NOT.
And I gotta wonder how Daddy is going to feel about writing that second semester tuition check, versus sending his lawyer out to Amherst...
the kids who got arrested were grabbed out of the crowd by cops. they were not the kids who were in trees and not the kids throwing things at cops. if you think they deserve to be expelled, then so do the other 6000 people who were at the riot
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