The beginning of the day's festivities were amazing. There were probably over a thousand students on the street having a good time at College Fest 09'. The weather couldn't have been better, high 80 degree weather, a few clouds in the sky, and a cool occasional breeze. There were kegs at every house along with ice luges and beer bongs. I was surprised there wasn't more bud smoking going on, but it didn't damper the day. The music was loud and so was the crowd, it was a great day to party.
As night time drew near, things started getting crazy. From what I heard this all began because of some cops attacked a girl as they tried to arrest her. I don't know if this is true or not since I was smokin while this all went down. By the time I actually made it back down to College it was an all out rage. I could easily see the smoke from several streets away and when I got there the fire was about 30 feet tall. People were throwing everything they could get their hands on into the street to set ablaze in the growing fire. I watched as people grabbed couches from their houses, pong tables, tree branches, empty beer cases, doors, and just about anything else you could think of to throw in the fire. This was only the first fire.
As the night raged on, the cops were slowly replaced by SWAT to better handle the growing riot. They came prepared with paintball guns with rubber bullets, riot shields, and tear gas to use for "crowd control." They eventually formed a line in the street and started marching toward the hundreds of students who were gathered around the gigantic fire. As the SWAT team came closer to the crowd, the crowd started getting louder, crazier, and more destructive. People decided to start showing their anger toward the police and SWAT team by throwing bottles and beer cans at them in protest. The SWAT did not take kindly to this and began to open fire on the crowd with rubber bullets. I think they first intended to shoot the people who were throwing objects at them, but it quickly turned into them just getting trigger happy and shooting many innocent people who were just watching.
This seemed to only further enrage the crowd rather than scare it. I noticed a lot more bottle throwing after this and, as a result, a lot more shooting. This time however the crowd started to disperse, well at least move farther down the street. As people started to run away from the first fire, there were at least two more built in the next four minutes. The crowd had now turned into complete anarchy as people started tearing down street signs and chanting "asshole" for the cops. Within the next half hour there were about 5 or more additional street fires as the crowd was forced down the street. Eventually the crowd ran out of room to riot as they were pushed back and things finally started to calm down.
All in all the day was pretty ridiculous. Lots of alcohol, girls, fire, and rioting, throw in a little protesting and it all came together pretty well.
I would just like to say to the Kent State Police, stop going out of your way to arrest college students who aren't doing anything to bother anyone else. You need to just take a chill pill and stop encouraging things to get out of hand like they did once again.
I would like to hear your side of the story and/or comments!!!
Check out the youtube videos and other info at KentNewsNet.com, HuffingtonPost, Uwire, Ohio.com, and ABC
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