For the second year in a row, police used pepper spray to subdue out-of-control crowds during the Halloween party on State Street.
The commotion began early Sunday morning around bar time when a crowd accumulated on the 500 block of State Street between the University Inn, 441 N. Frances St., and Urban Outfitters, 604 State St.
Police said revelers \body-slammed"" each other, and others uprooted two trees in the vicinity. As the crowd inflated to what police estimated at 5,000, people looked down on the melee from the windows of the University Inn. Some in the street started yelling at girls in the windows to ""show your tits,"" and some of the people in the windows flicked off the crowd. Others further incited the violence by hanging out the windows and singing the Minnesota Gophers' fight song, according to City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, who monitored the street all night.
On the street, people started throwing anything they could get their hands on-beer cans, rocks, parts of costumes-through the Inn windows. They then threw objects through the windows of businesses under the Inn. They broke the windows of Husnu's, 547 State St., Tomboy Girl, 551 State St., Dick & Jane, 553 State St., and The Den, 555 State St. Looters took merchandise from the Den. Police said the crowd threw objects at officers.
""At one point the crowd just stood chanting 'ri-ot, ri-ot,' like they wanted something to happen, like they wanted shit to go down,"" UW-Madison sophomore Jean Roberts said.
Near 3 a.m., approximately 30 police dressed in riot gear came out of the parking lot behind University Inn and formed a line cutting across State Street. They moved down the street in that formation toward the crowd.
When the line got to the concrete park next to The Towers, 502 N. Frances St., police sprayed pepper spray into the park and that area cleared out immediately.
Meanwhile the police line kept moving toward the rioters, pushing the crowd forward. Verveer said revelers broke the windows the University Book Store Digital Outpost, 673 State St., and looted Paul's Bookstore, 670 State St., during their flight from police.
Police continued to push the crowd to Library Mall, where it broke up about an hour later.
Police and city officials stood in front of the shattered storefronts on State Street the next afternoon at a news conference and defended their handling of the event.
Assistant Police Chief Noble Wray said the situation could have been a lot worse had the city not taken precautionary measures, such as enforcing a ban on glass containers on the street and putting out twice as many officers as last year. He denied any looting took place and said the damage in last year's riot was much worse.
""I would not classify what took place last night as a riot,"" Wray said.
Police estimated the crowd at 40,000 Saturday, down from 60-65,000 Friday. As of press time, police said about 170 people were arrested Saturday in connection with various alcohol, disturbance and damage-related charges, including 13 physical arrests. Friday, about 180 people were arrested.
Wray said there were no reports of injuries and at least two cars were damaged. He added it is too early to know how many people from Madison were involved, but for now attributed the disturbance to ""a high percentage from outside Madison."" Police videotaped the entire night from a rooftop camera and will review that tape this week, Verveer said.
""We were 30 minutes away from being able to say 'see, we did a good job,'"" Police Chief Richard Williams said.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said no one could stop the event from happening next year, as it is unsponsored and people will just show up. But the mayor said he and the police would review their strategy and see what they need to do differently next year.
Cieslewicz said he would consider all options, even staggering bar time or eliminating it. He also said the city would seriously reconsider allowing a music event next year akin to the Killer Party hosted by Madtown Productions. That event involved band concerts on Library Mall Saturday night.
""That may have served to bring in a lot of folks from outside the community,"" he said.
Killer Party organizer Will Komassa said he was disheartened to hear officials hint his event contributed to the mess.
Verveer agreed.
""I think it is patently unfair to blame the concert or the concert crowd for the disturbance that occurred,"" he said.
Many of the damaged stores' owners were unavailable for comment Sunday, but Husnu Asis, owner of Husnu's, said he for one thought the party should discontinue completely.
""The city should be responsible and pay the damage for the businesses,"" Asis said.
""They knew this thing is [sic] happening, so why didn't they stop this thing?""
