Close to two dozen people were arrested Saturday afternoon as police responded to several off-campus parties being held by Dalhousie students.
Halifax Regional Police estimate up to 1,500 people were a part of the unsanctioned homecoming events, which took place off-campus in the area of Jennings and Larch streets.
Videos of the disturbance uploaded by those in attendance show a crowd of young men and women in black-and-gold Dalhousie clothing chanting “fuck these cops” at the assembled police presence.
“Just an average riot,” reads one caption. The videos were publicly viewable on Snapchat’s location-based map.
“You got actual lives to save but you’d rather watch a university party?” one woman can be heard yelling at the assembled emergency personnel.
At one point the crowd repeatedly chants “Let her go; let her go” at officers arresting a young blonde woman.
A statement from Halifax police says 22 people were arrested during the parties for a variety of offences under the Liquor Control Act, Criminal Code and HRM bylaw violations.
University president Richard Florizone condemned the students’ actions later in the day, writing on Twitter that he was “disappointed to hear that some students are drinking excessively and disturbing our community.”
“Not only is this dumb behaviour and subject to the law, these few students may also be subject to university discipline,” continues Florizone. “Be safe!”
Earlier this school year, Dalhousie banned alcohol in residences during orientation week as part of a harm-reduction policy around student drinking.
The school was sued last fall after international student Xiaomeng (Melody) Shang died from alcohol poisoning following a night of dorm-room drinking.
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This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2017.
Typical behaviour, attitudes and values of the average university student… until one pokes their eye out with a stick. Party on Bros!
Typical party by University Students… The reaction by the University is over the top and out of bounds. Stay out of peoples personal lives!
This is not a riot. Just another sensational headline.
Dal and SMU have outgrown their lands. I think consolidating the local Universities and moving the undergrads out to an off peninsula location would free up lands
for low density residential development, and some of the Dal and SMU facilities could be used by the community.
This would take add to the single detached housing inventory, the hottest peninsular housing market. Dal and SMU don’t pay property taxes and they occupy a huge amount of the most valuable lands in the city. People have been moving from nearby family neighbourhoods near the schools because of university caused parking and noise issues and crime.Local developers have been taking advantage of this to blockbust nearby residential neighbourhoods.
Municipal amalgamation was forced on Halifax, and homeowners dont want to see developers taking over our residential streets and green spaces.
Halifax taxpayers want to keep the Halifax peninsula primarily a low density residential community.
STUDENTS RIOT???? Were you even there?
Halifax is a unique city with a very diverse community of young families, elderly and students. When compared to other Canadian homecoming events this was on the incredibly tame side of parties. Often at universities such as Queens, Western and Wilfrid Laurier, a street within their student ghetto is often forced to close due to high pedestrian traffic. Ontario faces very similar open container, public intoxication and liquor laws, but often no one is arrested for having an open beer on the street or on the front lawn of students homes. Parties and University go together like PB&J, this is not an anomaly within the university world and should not be treated as such. A strong police presence is needed at events such as this, but cops in Halifax are becoming notorious for being restless and simply unreasonable when it comes to students drinking. Students are a major source of income for the city and students and police should be working together to ensure large homecoming events are a space for students to let loose, but in a safe and respectful manner.
every university does homecoming and typically hosts events (Acadia, queens and X for example). Dalhousie didn’t put anything on for the students to keep them from excessive drinking or having parties. Acadia had big blow up activities and bouncy castles etc to keep the students in one place and you don’t see 1000 headlines about their homecoming. why is everything Dalhousie students do blown completely out of proportion. street parties are quite common for homecomings and I don’t see why if the students have drinks together to celebrate they school spirit at such an early time of the day they should be in trouble for that. also, the police may have been disrespected and no I don’t agree with that but they were driving their cars through the crowds and walking up and down the street pushing people from behind off the street, shaking full cans of pepper spray and threatening people they would arrest them for “improper use of a sidewalk” when they got off the roads. yes some of the arrests were for good reason, but Halifax police are on a power trip and drunk tank people that aren’t drunk and aren’t being harmful to themselves or anyone else.
The students that were put into handcuffs were mistreated and used as an example to the rest of the students. The vicious actions by police did not have to be taken that far, as they were hand-cuffing students for violations that only deserved a small fine or ticket according to Halifax’s by-laws. The video is a violation of students privacy and should be removed.
So, the students weren’t being “riotous” until the cops showed up and started arresting people. Sounds like we know where the problem lies… I guess these cops were absent the day “de-escalation and crowd control” was being taught. If people don’t feel like they are being respected, that’s when problems arise, and I can tell you that I, on many occasions as a law abiding citizen, have felt disrespected by overzealous HRP officers that were unwilling to set aside their authority and listen to what I and others had to say.