An angry and concerned Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced Sunday that the future of Madison's annual Halloween celebration is \in peril"" after an unruly crowd forced police to suit up in riot gear and deploy pepper spray for the third year in a row.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, revelers lit small fires on State Street, passed bodies and threw objects at police officers-which Cieslewicz termed ""despicable actions.""
""I have had enough of placing our police officers and firefighters in danger,"" he said. ""I have had enough of the black eye these disturbances give to the reputation of our city. I want to send a very clear message to everyone who came to Madison to cause trouble this weekend: Stay away next year.""
""We've got a core group of people that are determined to have a riot,"" Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said of the partiers who caused disturbances near the 500 and 600 blocks of State Street early Sunday morning.
At 1:30 a.m., approximately 5,000 people gathered near University Inn, 441 N. Frances St. Members of the crowd ignited what Madison Fire Chief Debra Amesqua termed a ""bonfire,"" with some onlookers chanting and jumping over the flames.
""We were very close last night after about 1:30 to something very tragic happening,"" Wray said.
Police turned on the stadium-style lights at approximately 3 a.m., but unlike Saturday morning, the lights failed to disperse the crowd. Police eventually used pepper spray on the crowd, although according to Wray, officials restrained from using the spray until they had no other option. Wray said 15 to 20 people were treated by the Madison Fire Department for exposure to the spray. Most of the crowd had dispersed by 4 a.m.
Police responded swiftly to all disorderly conduct, immediately transporting those arrested to processing centers downtown.
One UW-Madison junior, who was arrested and taken to a center for possession of an open alcoholic container on State Street, said he was surprised at how quickly police arrested him.
""They weren't understaffed, everything was under control,"" he said of the processing center, adding officers were ""pretty decent"" in their treatment of those arrested.
""People who were in there were crying, or they looked drunk. It wasn't a great place to be on Halloween,"" he said.
In terms of property damage, Wray said Halloween weekend was a success, compared to last year. Two businesses on the 500 and 600 blocks of State Street sustained broken windows, as did the University Book Store.
According to Cieslewicz and Wray, new measures such as stadium lighting and the free food provided by Associated Students of Madison helped to quell rowdy behavior.
""This community owes the law enforcement community a debt of gratitude for the work they did out there,"" Wray said.
Police arrested approximately 250 people between 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and 4:00 a.m. Oct. 31., a number is slightly higher than in 2003.
Approximately 82 arrested were from out of state. Assistant Police Chief Yudice said of the approximately 400 arrested over the weekend, 49 were from the state of Minnesota and 19 were from the state of Illinois. He said 12.8 percent arrested were from UW-Madison.
""I was very proud of our students,"" UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said. ""Contrary to popular perception, our students are not the problem downtown.""
Wiley said the university will examine all student arrests and will decide on a case-by-case basis on what actions to take, including possible expulsion or suspension.
Despite minimal property damage Cieslewicz said the city cannot term the event successful simply because officials avoided ""total mayhem.""
""It is time to face up to the fact that we may need to shift city policy from welcoming Halloween on State Street and trying to manage it, to actively discouraging the event,"" he said.
Cieslewicz said he wants to discuss with city officials on how to diminish the size of the event and possibly how to end the event altogether.
""I think we are at a crossroads,"" said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. ""Obviously, I think absolutely it is disgusting and embarrassing that for the third year in a row we've been forced to end this event with the deployment of pepper spray. That's just totally unacceptable.""
Yet, he said trying to diminish the scale of Halloween within one year is ""a very tall order to fill."" He said he is very concerned that tactics such as martial law, shutting down businesses and citywide curfews would have to be employed to successfully pull the plug on such an event.
""I think that is a scary proposition,"" he said. ""This is a community that cherishes its civil liberties.""
-Jason Soriano contributed to this report.
