College

The University of Arizona Had an Insanely Ratchet Riot after Losing in the Elite Eight

by Last Updated

Arizona students rioted after the Wildcats bowed out of the NCAA Tourney last night, which we’ll get to in a bit—but first of all, the Arizona Daily Wildcat tweeted this at 12:17 a.m.

Which was HORRIFYING. Mass murder over a basketball game? What the hell was going on in Tucson?

And then the paper dropped this ten minutes later…

Ah. Right.

Anyway, multiple accounts paint a shitshow of a scene on Arizona’s campus as soon as the Wildcats dropped their Elite Eight contest to Wisconsin last night. During the game, the Daily Wildcat reported that Tucson police officers had begun lining alongside University Boulevard in anticipation of whatever happened during the ensuing celebration. (March 28th saw a peaceful crowd of revelers on University; the favored ‘Zona could’ve seen a similar party if it made its first Final Four in 13 years.)

Then the Wildcats lost and… shit went down. Fans began throwing smoke bombs onto the boulevard. The police force declared unlawful assembly and made moves to disperse the crowd. The students allegedly turned this into an opportunity to protest the police presence, and cops began shooting pepper balls at the kids.

The face of the riot is this one lunatic—in sunglasses natch—who took several shots to the chest (without wincing!) before cops finally took him down. The Bro-minator will live to fight on another day. (H/T to Lost Letterman for the video.)

University Blvd. saw smoke and anarchy as the students verbally and physically confronted the cops in riot gear—but it looks like things died down after an hour with no injuries and *only* 15 arrests. (15 is too many for such an incredibly stupid thing, but hey, it could’ve been worse.) Here are some of the tweets from the night:

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#RiotSelfie: This American College, 2014: