The drunkest, most debacherous nights of my college career always came on St. Patrick’s Day, and I’m not even Irish.
So it’s good to see kids are still using it as an excuse to wile out, as evidenced by the Blarney Blowout this year at U-Mass Amherst.
The annual party yesterday just happened to coincide with the first nice day of 2014, meaning students were ready to get at it. From the Associated Press:
A pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration near the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts spiraled out of control, pitting police in riot gear against thousands of drunken and unruly revelers at the annual “Blarney Blowout.” More than 70 people were arrested and four officers were injured in the clashes.
Amherst police Capt. Jennifer Gundersen called the daylong partying “extremely disturbing and unsafe.”
“Perhaps one of the worst scenes we have ever had with drunkenness and unruliness,” Gundersen told The Republican in Springfield. “It is extremely upsetting. It is very dangerous.”
Things got VERY wild.
Police from the city and university and state troopers in riot gear converged on a crowd of about 4,000 people at an apartment complex shortly after noon. Authorities said people on the property were destroying things, and as officers began to disperse the crowd, they were pelted with glass bottles, beer cans and snowballs.
After quieting the disturbance at the apartment complex, several thousand people assembled near a frat house. That gathering became dangerous and out of control, officials said, and when officers tried to clear the crowd, they again were attacked with bottles, rocks, cans and snowballs.
Pepper spray was used to disperse the crowd because of the size and “assaultive behavior,” police said.
Kids were locked up on a variety of charges.
Police say charges included inciting to riot, failing to disperse, disorderly conduct, liquor law violations and assault and battery on officers. Some of those arrested had been released on bail by early Sunday, police said, while others were held, depending on charges.
Of course, the whole event was Instagrammed.
[Image via Instagram]