Boulder, Colo. — Boulder police used tear gas to subdue about 1,000 University of Colorado rioters on University Hill early Sunday morning, the fifth riot since May 1997 in the area.
Officials said they hadn't expected any trouble before the Labor Day weekend.
"In previous riots, the students' reasoning was 'We're stressed because of mid-terms and we really need a break,' 'We're celebrating the Super Bowl,' or 'We're ... (angry) at the cops for cracking down on underage drinking,"' said police spokeswoman Jennifer Bray.
"What we're thinking is this is the largest freshman class ever -- 5,600 kids a nice night, and many students were probably out wandering around ... looking for parties and it just added to the huge amount of folks who were here."
The latest riot comes just two days after Boulder police supplied pizza and sodas in the University Hill area in an effort to tear down the walls of mistrust between students and authorities.
Boulder Deputy Police Chief Jim Hughes said it took as many as 70 officers to disperse the crowd. He estimated the damage, manpower and cleanup costs $8,000.
Boulder police reported that four vehicles were damaged Sunday and two officers suffered minor injuries. One reveler was arrested for obstruction of justice.
Several rioters received minor injuries from the projectiles, but no one was hospitalized, said Jana Petersen, spokeswoman for the city of Boulder. The damage and injuries came mostly from hurled rocks, bottles and bricks.
"A lot of people think this is just college kids having fun," Hughes said. "But it's more than just kids being kids. There are some consequences. Within the last 2 1/2 years, we've had two officers critically injured."
Petersen said police first learned of the gathering just after midnight. At that point, it was small. Reinforcements were still called in because officers on the scene feared it would get worse.
The rioters ignored repeated commands to disperse and hurled objects at the officers, Petersen said. The city had to resort to using the new reverse 911 system to alert nearby residents to close their windows because police were about to use tear gas.
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