Police Tear Gas Crowd at College Party

By TIM MARTIN – 8 hours ago

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Police early Sunday used tear gas to disperse a crowd at a large party near the campus of Michigan State University after fights broke out and officers were pelted with bottles and cans.

Police said in a statement that 3,000 to 4,000 people had gathered for the Cedar Fest party in East Lansing on Saturday night. Police said 52 people were arrested and 48 others ticketed for various offenses.

It wasn't immediately whether there were any injuries.

Police said the crowd became increasingly unruly about 1 a.m., the Lansing State Journal and The State News reported.
Tear gas was fired about 2 a.m. after repeated loudspeaker warnings to leave were ignored, and the crowd had dispersed about an hour later. Police said about 80 officers from area jurisdictions worked to contain the crowd.

"The volume of glass that was coming in was ridiculous," East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert told The State News. "The amount of people being hit was ridiculous."

Wibert said police initially only used loud, smoking munitions without the burning affect of tear gas to try to get the crowd to leave, but only about half dispersed. At that point, he said, tear gas was used.

Wibert said police tried to avoid the use of tear gas. "The hardcore ones wanted to be tear gassed, that's what it is," he told the Lansing State Journal at the scene. "Our guys were just taking too many bottles."
Police told The Associated Press on Sunday morning that Wibert planned to release additional information at a news conference.

A university spokesman told The AP on Sunday he didn't have any information on the disturbance.

The city and Michigan State University on Friday had warned people to stay away from the planned event, which was an attempt to revive an East Lansing party tradition that had been ended because of past problems.

The event was held at Cedar Village, a student housing complex bordering the northeast side of campus. East Lansing has been the site of several past disturbances.

In 2005, a crowd of more than 2,000 college students and others swarmed downtown East Lansing after the Michigan State men's basketball team lost in the Final Four. Police arrested 42 people. Damage was estimated at $8,275.

In 1999, property damage was estimated at up to $500,000 when the Spartan men lost in the Final Four. Revelers overturned cars, smashed store windows and set fires. Police arrested 132 people, including 71 Michigan State students.

There also were problems during the Spartans' 2003 NCAA tournament run. But large gatherings during Final Four appearances in 2000 and 2001, for the most part, were peaceful.