National Football League

14 arrested at post-Super Bowl gathering

Published Feb. 5, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Around 1,500 University of Massachusetts students rioted following the loss of their beloved New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday night, forcing police to use stun and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd.

Police riot squads in Amherst, Mass., were on hand before the end of the nailbiting game and issued dispersal orders at around 10 p.m. when the crowd became unruly following the New York Giants' 21-17 win, the Springfield Republican reported.

Roughly 10 minutes later, police fired "flashbang" stun grenades and smoke grenades into the crowd in a bid to disperse them from a concrete concourse at the university's southwest residential area.

Officers wearing full riot gear and police on horseback were involved in the violent incident, as the rowdy crowd shouted "USA" and "F*ck the Giants," smashed glass bottles and set off firecrackers, the Republican reported.

University spokesman Edward Blaguszewski told the newspaper that 14 people were arrested Sunday night and charged with either failure to disperse or disorderly conduct. He said 13 of those arrested were UMass students and would face the possibility of being suspended from the school.

Blaguszewski said police made the decision to break up the gathering when the crowd numbers swelled to around 1,500. Other people estimated the crowd to be around 3,000-strong.

"It was a large crowd and there was a need to issue a dispersal order to move them along," he said. "Police are saying there are no injuries and no damage. Certainly some fights broke out and there was rowdiness."