400 arrested at Halloween party

2005-10-31 10:56

Madison - A weekend of Halloween celebrations popular with college students resulted in more than 400 arrests, and police used bursts of pepper spray to break up crowds of revellers.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz on Sunday suggested cancelling the annual gathering. The downtown party near the University of Wisconsin-Madison attracts college students from across the Midwest, and has turned chaotic in the past. Last year, 455 were arrested.

"Every year there's a certain group of people who come hell-bent on starting an altercation of some kind and we can't seem to shake that," Cieslewicz said. "The only way to end it is to order State Street shut down, every business, for a couple of nights."

Police used officers on horseback on Sunday to move chanting and beverage-tossing revellers off State Street, a 1km-long stretch of bars, restaurants and shops. The pepper spray was used after cups filled with beverages and ice were thrown at officers.

Most offences alcohol-related

Most arrests were for alcohol-related offences, including underage drinking, said lieutenant Pat Malloy. He said the local detoxification centre was filled to capacity and some people had to be taken to emergency rooms.

There were 269 arrests overnight and 178 the night before, said police chief Noble Wray.

The university had taken steps to control the chaos this year, prohibiting visitors from dormitories and warning Big 10 and other Midwest schools that students should not come. City officials and the university have said most of the problems are caused by out-of-town visitors.

Elsewhere, police in Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, made 95 arrests at a Saturday night Halloween block party. Police described the crowd as belligerent but smaller than previous years. Forty-eight of those arrested are college students, officers said.

One man was stabbed in the hand and a woman was injured escaping from an attempted rape, said Athens police spokesperson James Mann.

- AP