A raucous crowd of about 200 people filled the streets of Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota campus Saturday night, minutes after the Gophers men’s hockey team fell to Union College in the NCAA final. Reporters and police were out in force to see if there was a repeat of Thursday’s riots.
Totals from Dinkytown: at least 19 arrests, 2 known arson incidents, undetermined amount of property damage, no officer injuries
— Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) April 13, 2014
FOX 9 reports that most of the 19 people arrested were ticketed and then released on scene and only four were taken to jail. One of the four people was still in custody on Sunday afternoon.
The crowd broke up shortly before midnight, in response to an aggressive show of strength by Minneapolis and University of Minnesota police.
Many of the people who gathered early on seemed to be watching the action unfold instead of participating. Some chanted “USA!” and “Let’s go Gophers!” while a few others jumped on cars and threw bottles at police, the Minnesota Daily reports.
Dozens of people tried to take over the intersection of 4th Street and 14th Avenue SE, but police cars converged on the corner to try to clear the crowd, and lines of officers moved in from all directions, the Star Tribune reports.
There were sporadic reports of damage, including a couple of pieces of furniture that had been set on fire. And there was this, too:
https://twitter.com/Tanner_and_ferb/status/455202930384465920
At about 11 p.m. roughly a dozen people sat down in the middle of the street, in front of a line of police, and chanted, “We have the right to assemble.”
Police officers ordered the crowds to disperse, but many people refused to leave at first. Some media reported that police used paint pellets or other means to break up the gathering.
Police perimeter moves outside Bierman as fireworks or smoke bombs go off and police fired rubber bullets into crowd pic.twitter.com/vOQxRJlvCD
— Rebecca Harrington (@HarringtonBecca) April 13, 2014
Some bystanders were caught in the crowd and couldn’t get to their homes, since police had blocked most major routes out of Dinkytown, according to the Daily.
Three helicopters, including one from the State Patrol, hovered overhead. One of the helicopters was from KSTP, which posted this raw video footage.
University officials and Minneapolis police delivered on their promise of a robust police presence in Dinkytown after celebrations spiraled out of control on Thursday night.
Police preparing to control #Dinkytown via @bridgetkbennett pic.twitter.com/CFYhookIg7
— Minnesota Daily (@mndailynews) April 13, 2014
Police line in #Dinkytown gets thicker as more bystanders than rowdy students look on. One person was arrested so far pic.twitter.com/bZvJPGSqzm
— Rebecca Harrington (@HarringtonBecca) April 13, 2014
One final note: FOX 9’s Jonathan Choe was one of many reporters doing live shots from the scene during the 10 p.m. newscasts, and he was having a hard time of it because people in the crowd kept interfering. Read more here.
View more photos from Saturday night here.
