Police in Riot Gear Arrest 73 Around UMass Amherst
Most of the arrests came at an off-campus apartment complex, where large crowds began gathering Saturday morning for the annual event, which was started by bars to allow the students to celebrate the holiday before their spring break begins this week.
Police from the city, university and state troopers in riot gear converged on a crowd of about 4,000 people at an apartment complex shortly after noon, police said in a statement Saturday night. Police said party-goers were involved in destruction of property and, as officers began to disperse the crowd, they were pelted with glass bottles, beer cans and snowballs.
After handling the disturbance at the apartment complex, police say several thousand people assembled near a frat house and near an intersection. Authorities said they determined that the gathering became dangerous and out of control, and when officers tried to clear the crowd they again faced people throwing bottles, rocks, cans and snowballs.