More than 1,000 people celebrated the Red Sox’s World Series victory early Thursday morning in a gathering that saw at least one student arrested.
While many celebrated peacefully, some students upended newspaper boxes, taunted police officers and made small fires near Kogan Plaza.
Metropolitan Police Department officials never made any serious attempts to disperse the revelers, who filled H Street for roughly two hours. Motorcycle-riding officers, riot gear-clad officers and a helicopter incited more aggressive responses from the crowd.
“We can’t just stand by and watch people acting here who are affected by alcohol consumption and caught up in the moment do things uncharacteristic to their nature,” said Lt. Robert Aiello, one of several senior MPD officers who monitored the gathering.
The celebration began at about 11:30 p.m., when the Red Sox defeated the Cardinals to win their first title in 86 years. Almost instantly, more than 1,000 Red Sox fans and curious onlookers flocked to H Street in front of Kogan Plaza to celebrate the historic victory and an end to 86 years of bad luck.
Chants of “Johnny Damon” – who hit a leadoff home run in Wednesday night’s game – and “Yankees suck” reverberated throughout the crowd.
“I cried when we won,” senior Meghan Menesale, who wore a Jason Varitek Red Sox jersey for the occasion.
Freshman Brian Hayes called Wednesday the “greatest day of any Red Sox fan’s life.”
“I don’t know what to do,” said Hayes, who hails from western Massachusetts. “I’m in disbelief.”
Twenty minutes after fans flooded the streets and sidewalk, some students tipped over newspaper boxes and climbed street posts; one student ascended to the top of a 15-foot cement block that forms part of Kogan Plaza’s H Street entrance.
The damage initially spawned little response from the handful of MPD and University Police officers who arrived first at the scene. But when several students attempted to tip over a gray Toyota Corolla parked in front of the plaza, dozens of MPD and UPD officers descended on the party.
The Red Sox celebration soon turned into an anti-police protest. Students pushed and taunted the motorcycle officers who rode through the crowd. One student was violently forced to the ground and arrested for pushing police officers.
The motorcycle officers did little to weaken the crowd’s rowdiness. At 12:30 a.m., an MPD helicopter made repeated trips over H Street; about a dozen of officers in riot gear stood about 100 feet from the students, though they made no forays into the crowd.
About a half-hour later, a slightly diminished crowd receded to the sidewalks and reassembled in front of the clock in Kogan Plaza. Several students threw glass liquor bottles onto the pavement, but no one was hurt. Students began leaving the plaza at about 1:30 a.m.
MPD officials said they were only attempting to protect public property and clear the street.
“We certainly give special attention to assure that no one gets hurt and no property gets destroyed,” Aiello said.
As of 12:30 a.m., only one student had been arrested for disorderly conduct, said Capt. Rodney Parks, the commanding officer at the scene. Another student who set a broom on fire and flung it at UPD officers was also detained. It is not clear whether he was arrested.
Parks said students threatened some of his officers’ safety when they “threw a few projectiles” at them. MPD responded to the celebration as soon as students started blocking streets and damaging property.
For many onlookers, the behavior of some fans was too violent.
“If the Yankees won, we would not be acting like this,” said freshman Mirlande Martin as she stood several feet away from students who were trying to tip over the Toyota.
Freshman and Red Sox fan Alex Kellner disagreed, saying, “There’s no way that people are being aggressive.”
“This is not total destruction,” Kellner said. “This is not event close to what’s happening in Boston right now.”
During Wednesday night’s celebration, University officials said they were “following its crowd control procedures to limit property damage.”
“After they had won the (American League) pennant, students celebrated peacefully, and it was our expectation that if they won the World Series the celebration would be peaceful as well,” said Tracy Schario, GW’s director of Media Relations, in a phone interview late Wednesday night.
The celebration mirrored similar events at colleges with large New England populations. MPD officials said extra officers were on the streets Wednesday for large-scale gatherings at GW, Georgetown and American universities.
At Harvard University, an otherwise peaceful celebration resulted in one student being struck in a hit-and-run accident, reported The Crimson, the school’s student newspaper. Last week, after the Red Sox eliminated the Yankees, an Emerson College student died during a celebration outside Fenway Park.
-Gabriel Okolski and Jeff Baum contributed to this report
