I’VE BEEN IN riots and this was not a riot,” Salt Lake City Police Chief
Rick Dinse said at a news conference at midmorning Sunday. “… I believe it was
the right amount of force at the right time.”
Dinse said windows in several buildings and at least one vehicle were damaged
during the clash, which began when individuals in a boisterous crowd in the
thousands became unruly after the Bud World beer garden attraction was closed
after reaching capacity.
Dinse estimated damage could reach “the low thousands,” but both he and Mayor
Rocky Anderson objected to early reports that characterized the incident as a
riot.
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“We want to emphasize that this was a relatively minor disturbance,” Anderson
said. “… Frankly, I anticipated far worse than this and far earlier (in the
Games).”
Dinse said between 180 and 200 helmeted and riot-gear clad officers responded
to the area near Main and 200 South Streets after receiving reports that the
crowd was getting out of hand. The gathering was declared an “unlawful
assembly” about midnight and officers began slowly pushing the crowd, many of
whom were chanting “USA, USA!”, down Main Street to the south, Dinse said.
Rob Garcia, 18, of Salt Lake City told the Associated Press the crowd was
yelling at police, and officers forced people against cars.
“The police were pushing people,” he said. “The cops just jumped across and set
up a barricade.”
Two revelers fight in the street during a riot. Several shop windows were
broken, but no injuries were reported.
While many in the crowd obeyed orders to disburse, some individuals began
hurling glass beer bottles at the officers, who responded by firing about 40
rounds of “impact devices” at the lower extremities of members of the crowd, he
said. The action quickly scattered the crowd.
Eighteen adults and two juveniles were arrested during the clash, and most were
charged with public intoxication and failure to disburse, Dinse said. Most of
those arrested were locals, but at least one was a Canadian citizen, he said.
Police were reviewing videotape of the incident in hopes of identifying crowd
members who hurled the bottles at police.
The arrests were the first mass police action since five women protesters were
jailed on Feb. 8, shortly before the Opening Ceremony.
Dinse said the only injuries reported were bruises and welts sustained by
members crowd members hit by the foam-tipped bullets and officers hit by
bottles.
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Normally, drunken revelers wouldn’t be roaming through the streets of Salt Lake
City. The state’s strict Mormon heritage usually makes for quiet nights. But
during the Games, things have been considerably more active.
But in the wake of the incident, Dinse said police would no longer tolerate
public consumption of alcohol, which officers had been widely ignoring in
previous days. Anderson also said Bud World, which had been open until midnight
throughout the Games, would close at 5 p.m. on Sunday. He said the decision to
close early was made by officials of Anheuser-Busch.
About $310 million has been devoted to Olympic security, and nearly 15,000
security workers are at the games. But Sunday’s disturbance was handled by
local police, according to a spokesman for the Olympic Joint Information
Center.