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Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Queen's University Party Ends With Dozens Of Arrests

2009/09/27 | The Canadian Press

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The weekend bender in Kingston, Ont. fizzled out early Sunday morning as a little rain and a lot of cops prevented thousands of university students from moving their party to the streets.

Queen's University cancelled this year's fall homecoming after last year's parties got out of hand, but thousands of students still came to play. Between Friday night and early Sunday morning, Kingston Police const. Michael Menor estimated that more than 80 arrests were made - mostly on drunk and disorderly or underage drinking charges.

Const. Menor said a number of intoxicated people were also taken to hospital in ambulances, but there were no reports of serious injuries or property damage.

There was a tense moment Saturday night when Menor said an order was given for officers to don riot gear after bottles were thrown at police, but the situation was quickly defused.

More than 400 officers patrolled the streets of the historic city, including the entire Kingston force, dozens of Mounties, Ontario Provincial Police and officers from several other departments as far away as Toronto some 300 km west of Kingston.

Menor had especially high praise for a mounted unit from Toronto.

"Absolutely amazing, they really earned their paycheques," he said. "Just unbelievable when it comes to dealing with moving people along."