JMU Riot Video: Dozens Arrested at JMU Springfest 2010 Riot

by NowPublic Staff | April 11, 2010 at 08:03 am

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About 30 People Were Arrested As a Party Near James Madison University Turn Into a Riot? What Caused the JMU Riot?

A large crowd of approximately 8,000 people near James Madison University turned into a full-scale riot Saturday. The JMU riot led to the arrest of several dozen party-goers.

Local police reported that rioters threw bottles at police, who were forced to use pepper spray and tear gas to quell the JMU riot.

Around 30 people were arrested and several were injured by broken glass during the afternoon and early evening. A number of fires were started in garbage cans.

What Caused the JMU Riot?

Harrisonburg police said that the JMU riot was not necessarily caused by James Madison students. The riot was likely started by people from out of town.

JMU students and out-of-towners gathered for Springfest, a large three-day party that takes place at an off-campus housing area. The party usually draws about 4,000 party-goers, but this year about 8,000 descended on Springfest. Police think that the fact that the party was promoted on Facebook may have led to the large crowd.

What Happened During the JMU Riot?

When fights started, police reported that they tried to break up the crowd. Some party-goers threw bottles and rocks at officers, leading them to use tear gas. Riot teams from the Harrisonburg, neighboring counties, and Virginia State Police were needed to control the crowd.

This is the first time in about a decade that a JMU party turned into a riot. About 10 years ago, a back-to-school party turned ugly with dozens of arrests. Several officers suffered mild injuries.

While police have given their side of the story with regards to the JMU riot, some who were in attendance have a different perspective on what took place during Springfest. Check out NowPublic's scan for public reaction to the JMU Riot.

Here is some JMU Riot Video

8 See all footage | View Slideshow

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Chixflax (not verified)

at 08:42 on April 11th, 2010

Wow, this article is so incorrect in so many different ways.

Savannahchiller (not verified)

at 08:51 on April 11th, 2010

most biased article i've ever read...

Duke1234567 (not verified)

at 10:36 on April 11th, 2010

JSU? Hahahah, very bad article.

jmuduke65 (not verified)

at 12:08 on April 11th, 2010

Completely biased. Yes, block party did get out of control (as it does every year). However, tear gas and 200+ officers were NOT necessary. The overwhelming majority of students and "party-goers"weren't doing anything wrong, and for the cops to tear gas thousands of confused girls in their sundresses simply because they happened to be in Forest Hills is so not okay. It was the absurdity of the way the students were treated that provoked others to rebel, NOT the other way around. Law enforcement should be ashamed of themselves, this was not "crowd control". THEY took things to a whole new level and did nothing to better the situation.

anotherduke (not verified)

at 15:36 on April 11th, 2010

You must have not been in the spot behind the houses where groups of people were throwing glass bottles into crowds of people. I witnessed someone launch a 40 bottle and smash a girl in the face. If the girls in sundresses that got a little tear gas in there eyes I am sure the girl that had her entire face covered in blood would have traded places any day. This was before the cops even got there. They were justified...you were just too drunk to understand what was going on.

... (not verified)

at 18:00 on April 11th, 2010

owned?

... (not verified)

at 18:30 on April 11th, 2010

thank you.. I would be one of those girls that get a 40 smashed into my face. mine wasn't bleeding but my boyfriend who also got hit in the face has his nose was bleeding and swollen and we weren't even in the massive crowd. We were towards the side where nothing really crazy was even going on. The inside of my mouth is cut and my face is bruised so I really don't care about anyone that got teargassed. You should've left once you saw the riot police like I did..

jmustudent (not verified)

at 18:39 on April 11th, 2010

thank you.. I would be one of those girls that got smashed in the face with a 40. My face wasn't bleeding everywhere but my boyfriend who also got hit had his nose start bleeding and his face is all swollen. And we weren't even in the massive crowd. We were off to the side where nothing crazy wsa really even going on. The inside of my cheek is all cut, I guess from where it hit my teeth and my face is bruised so I really don't care about anyone getting teargassed. You should've left when you saw the riot police anyways like I did.

DubVallday (not verified)

at 20:52 on April 11th, 2010

wow you must still be drunk. if those confused(aka smashed off their ass) girls in their sundresses would have just left like the cops asked they wouldn't have been tear gased. c'mon meow, sober up and get your head right

Harrisonburg (not verified)

at 21:45 on April 11th, 2010

After watching many of the videos of this event online, many of them shot by JMU students, it seems pretty clear that students were damaging property, starting fires and putting people in danger before the 200 officers moved in. More than 50 went to RMH's emergency room, and several had to be taken to UVA's hospital. If anything, they acted late and with too little force.

JMU Alum (not verified)

at 12:26 on April 11th, 2010

I know the videos do not capture all that went on throughout the scene but in not one of them is there a person fighting or otherwise causing the need for riot gear!

Harrisonburg (not verified)

at 21:50 on April 11th, 2010

You've got to be kidding me. 8,000 people. Kids lining up with glass bottles to hurl at the officers. If they hadn't come in that kind of gear, they wouldn't have had a shot at clearing those inebriated kids out. The kids throwing glass bottles at them IS fighting the police.

proudduke11 (not verified)

at 13:21 on April 11th, 2010

I have to say that what I felt the cops did was justified. I am a student at JMU and we all were sent text messages saying to leave the area. Only after the text messages went out did the cops begin crowd control. It is a crime to disobey police orders to vacate an area. Students feel too entitled to do whatever they want. If you are in public, drinking, and management does not like it (Fox Hills on Friday), then you are disrupting the peace and committing a crime. If you fail to leave the area, it can and will go down as resisting to follow police orders, another crime.It makes no sense to me that people come to college to learn and get an education and waste their parents money by partying all the time, but that is their decision.I just wanted to state my opinion and say as a JMU student, I am ashamed that our academic prowess is being overshadow by a few who feel the need to promote partying, especially during Choices weekend.

dookieschool (not verified)

at 13:49 on April 11th, 2010

fight likely caused by out of towners? i'm gonna have to call b.s. on that one haha so yes bias in one way

JamesMaddyLover (not verified)

at 15:52 on April 11th, 2010

All of the smart students who care about not getting kicked out of school left before this went down, or at least backed off-unless they were to drunk, of course. But there were so many people from out of town that you can't say taht's innaccurate. it probably is, if not entirely, partly true.

Fairness (not verified)

at 11:53 on April 16th, 2010

Well, dookieschool - Did you see the list of the people arrested ? Yes the majority WERE young adults from Harrisonburg and out-of-towners. Maybe Harrisonburg parents need to keep an eye on their kids!

FedUpWithJMUStudents (not verified)

at 13:50 on April 11th, 2010

Throwing objects at Police, starting and fueling dumpster fires 100 ft from buildings, but no your right there is NOTHING in any of these videos that warrants riot gear. Idiot. As well the block party DID get more out of control than it usually does, there were double the people. I can't even address everything wrong with what jmuduke65 states, these kids got exactly what they deserved. Dumpster fires, fights, reports of shots fired, assaults, kids too intoxicated to stand, apartments being trashed and beer cans being thrown through windows and at other people. So tell me what exactly does warrant police action in your mind?

FedUpWithJMUStudents (not verified)

at 13:51 on April 11th, 2010

dookieschool (not verified)

at 13:51 on April 11th, 2010

fight likely caused by out of towners? i'm gonna have to call b.s. on that one haha so yes bias in one way

JMUAlumni2008 (not verified)

at 09:10 on April 20th, 2010

Hmmm...considering I was a student at JMU for 4 years and every block party (or excuse me, spring fest) that we had NEVER had a crowd more than 3,000 or 4,000 at most. In fact, as a JMU alumni, I know more people who are ALUMNI from OTHER schools (UVA, UMD, Radford, VTech, Wake Forest, GMU to name a few) that went this year to springfest than JMU alumni. I'm not saying JMU students weren't involved, but I can tell you that this large crowd did include a huge population of non-JMU students and that's a fact.

JMU student (not verified)

at 14:11 on April 11th, 2010

The police were NOT out of line. They did what they had to. Stop bitching about tear gas

jmustudent (not verified)

at 14:24 on April 11th, 2010

actually the dumpster fires were started by the cops shooting their tear gas. they were later fueled by the students but all of the fires were started by cops. unless you were there you cant say we deserved what happened. the cops handled the situation completely incorrectly thats why they are now reviewing their guidelines on how to handle stuff like that.

Harrisonburg (not verified)

at 21:55 on April 11th, 2010

Completely not true, on many levels. I don't have to witness a crime to say that someone deserves the punishment they get... we have a court system for that. And in this case, I actually can see what happened, thanks to all of the videos JMU students took and have proudly posted. It'd be great if the school expelled anyone they can identify throwing bottles at the police or damaging property.

TheRaven (not verified)

at 05:27 on April 12th, 2010

Okay - now I'm calling b.s. Any fool who watches the YouTube videos can see the dumpster fires are burning long before the police start firing tear gas. You'd think seeing the police show up in full riot gear would clue any sane human being in that it was time to go home. But, nooooooo.... These fools start shouting, "f**k the police," and throwing rocks and bottles. Now, we're supposed to feel sorry for them? I think not. HPD absolutely did the right thing. Not to mention, my son had to drive through the area to pick up my daughter-in-law at her job around 12:00 am that night, and he had bottles thrown at his car. It wasn't the police doing that sh*t. It was entitled @$$holes like you.

FedUpWithJMUStudents (not verified)

at 14:46 on April 11th, 2010

The dumpsters were on fire before the Cops deployed any tear gas idiot. I was there. I can absolutely say you all deserved it. They are not reviewing guidelines what they did was absolutely warranted, the one mistake made was letting all you idiots start this mess to begin with. Grow up.

Tiger Woods (not verified)

at 14:59 on April 11th, 2010

lolmoney (not verified)

at 15:13 on April 11th, 2010

@FedUpWithJMUStudentsGet off your high horse. You claim you were there, so doesn't that make you part of the "mess"?

JMUisDumb (not verified)

at 15:46 on April 11th, 2010

FedUpWithJMUStudents is right. If the police need to break up something in a public area where they are outnumbered then they come in with riot gear. It doesn't matter if a few people were actually doing bad things because mob mentality is highly contagious especially in the drunken masses.

OmgCalmDown (not verified)

at 16:07 on April 11th, 2010

Jeez yall are ridiculous..being disappointed?? Really go out and try and live a little instead of getting pissed off and saying we are immature. We had a great time and were having a great time before it got out of hand and i know most everyone of the 8,000 there dont regret it at all. The people who deserved it were the idiots who threw shit which was probably..like less then 1% of the crowd so dont keep trying to blame everyone else who were fine and just having an awesome time at our jmu tradition, spring fest.