Uptown revelers turned their clocks back one year Sunday morning when about 2,000 people blocked Court Street between Washington and State streets for 30 minutes before police using force dispersed the crowd.

The incident mirrored last year's daylight-saving time disturbance when about 1,000 people gathered Uptown and made national headlines when police arrested 47 people. This year, Mayor Ric Abel declared an emergency and police said about 27 people were arrested and two officers were injured.

Like last year, police shot "multiple baton shells" to disperse the crowd.

This year most of the crowd, mainly students, came to watch. Some came to yell, chanting "O-U, O-U," "Let's go Bobcats," "Bring it on" and "CNN, CNN." Police were booed. Some men and women shed their shirts. At least a dozen video cameras rolled. Others jumped into the street and posed for pictures.

Student opinions about the cause of the disturbance ranged from celebrating the anniversary of the 1997 disturbance to media exposure to police visibility.

"It's a year after the big riot and people probably will celebrate this every year," sophomore Chris Shewring said. "We came down, because we knew the cops would be here overreacting as usual if something did happen. It's been great to watch."

Will Shilling/THE POST
Police dressed in riot gear lined up at the end of Washington and Court streets to face the crowd of about 2,000 people who overran Court Street early Sunday morning. The police used wooden batons and wooden and foam bullets to disperse the crowd when it refused to leave the street.
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Sophomore Nathan Buskirk said, "Everyone's just having fun. It happened last year and is happening this year because it's like an anniversary."

Officials blamed the 1997 disturbance on a number of causes, including early bar closings and spring fever. This year, police said media coverage "played a crucial role" in the disturbance.

"It is my opinion that a large number of persons came to the area seeking a confrontation," said Athens Police Department Chief Rick Mayer in a news release. "They were spurred on by at least two TV stations out of Columbus, Ohio and other TV news sources.

"I feel the media helped create the event and brought about a self-fulfilling prophecy that gave them a story to cover."

OU President Robert Glidden, who was on Court Street with other university officials helping control the crowd, said he could not name one specific cause.

"It's not productive to point fingers at this point," he said. "There probably is not one reason why this happened again.

"I tend to think we invited people to come down because of all the past coverage and because it's an easy anniversary date to remember. Hundreds of students poured into Uptown to see what was going to happen."

Police say most of the arrests were for "failure to disperse" and "persistent disorderly conduct." Partiers lit small fires in trash cans and threw bottles, asphalt and a brick into the crowd and at police.

One mounted unit's horse fell while trying to clear an alley. An officer was hit on the top of the helmet by a bottle thrown from an overhead window. Another officer was struck in the neck by a brick.

Dean of Students Joel Rudy said Director of Judiciaries Rich Carpinelli will talk to the APD, review each arrest and look at police video tapes to determine university disciplinary action.

Will Shilling/THE POST
A woman who had been struck in the head by a wooden bullet collapses on a Mill Street sidewalk while a policeman urges her to keep moving.
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Because the mayor declared an emergency, incidents might be classified as Code A Offenses, because they occurred during a "civil disturbance" and could qualify students for expulsion, Rudy said.

The crowd began to form on sidewalks at about 1 a.m. when patrons exited closing bars and students began to arrive to see if anything was happening. For 30 minutes, revelers made a half-dozen failed attempts to take over Court Street. Police on horseback kept the crowd at bay, often using the horses physically to move people on to sidewalks.

When the crowd spilled into the street at 1:30 a.m., police backed off. The partiers controlled Court Street for a half-hour. Meanwhile, about 50 police in riot gear, who had been practicing crowd control tactics at The Armory at the end of Court Street, lined East Washington Street out of the crowd's sight.

At 1:41 a.m. the mayor declared an emergency, and police announced the crowd had five minutes to disperse. The announcement was not audible to the entire crowd. Partiers remained. About 20 minutes later, 50 officers clad in riot gear moved forward as the crowd egged on police by shouting obscenities.

As officers moved north firing foam bullets, which are about three inches long and two inches in diameter, the crowd refused to leave Court Street.

"Most acted like they had no intent to leave unless personally pushed out of the area," Mayer said in the release.

Officers then switched to wooden rounds, and the crowd began to disperse.

"That hurt like shit," yelled freshman Jason Fondran, who was bruised twice by wooden shells. "All I wanted was to go and get some pizza."

At first the rounds did not deter the crowd, which backed off but did not leave. Students halted about every 50 feet and police fired rounds again. The police finally moved the crowd to State and Mill streets and by 2:30 a.m. controlled Court Street.

O'Bleness Memorial reported few, if any, injuries treated because of the disturbance. People involved in the incident complained of bumps and bruises.

"I don't think people realized the potential to get hurt," said Athens City Councilman Gary Van Meter who witnessed the disturbance. "The crowd was confrontational."

Dean of Students Joel Rudy said he is disappointed the discussions with students and university and city officials failed to keep the incident from occurring.

"This is the second year in a row, and we risk establishing a pattern which exacerbates the relationship between the police and students," he said. "I'm not finger-pointing, just disappointed by the police and by the students who shouldn't have been in the street."

Mike Crupi/THE POST
OU President Robert Glidden is escorted through the Court Street crowd by an OU Police Department officer early Sunday morning as he advises students to cooperate with the riot squad.
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Mike Crupi/THE POST
A student is restrained by a mounted Athens Police Department officer before being handcuffed in the middle of Court Street early Sunday morning.
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