160 Arrested as Students Riot in Beach Town

Thousands of young people here for a Labor Day weekend fraternity gathering went on a rampage down the main thoroughfare of this resort city early Sunday, firing shots and looting more than 100 stores.

Police said 160 people were arrested between Friday evening and early Sunday evening, and 395 others had been issued citations for various offenses.

After a tense but uneventful day in which store owners cleaned up gutted storefronts Sunday, police turned out at mid-evening in riot gear and cleared the streets again, arresting dozens more young people during a 35-minute sweep.

Two men were wounded by gunshots in the earlier confrontation with police, and at least two others were injured, authorities said.

City officials say some of the estimated 100,000 young people who clogged the resort strip looted more than 100 stores along Atlantic Avenue, the city’s main beachfront thoroughfare.

At the request of city officials, Gov. Gerald L. Baliles sent in a military police detachment from the National Guard and state police troopers.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, city officials closed the downtown beach area to incoming traffic. State and local police patrolled the area on foot and by helicopter.

Several people threw bottles at state troopers, who began making arrests, and onlookers taunted National Guardsmen who marched through city streets, armed with batons and assault rifles.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m., about 75 Virginia Beach police officers formed a wedge and began moving south on Atlantic Avenue, which runs parallel to the oceanfront one block away.

The Virginia Beach officers were followed by a state police armored truck, which announced over a public address system that the approximately 350 young people in the street represented an unlawful assembly.

Officers were pelted with bottles as they walked along the street and made arrests. Several officers who went into an adjoining motel parking lot to arrest someone were showered by bottles thrown from a balcony.

By 10:05, Atlantic Avenue was empty except for several hundred police officers.

The initial disturbances began around 2 a.m. and stretched 30 blocks, police said.

A witness said police had attempted to disperse groups of fraternity students, most from predominantly black colleges along the East Coast, who were showing off dance steps on Atlantic Avenue. At one point in the fracas, police lobbed a smoke bomb into a crowd of people.

“It’s been like we’re being singled out because we are young and black,” said Charles Stone, 23, of New York City.

City officials were considering imposing a curfew to prevent further violence. In addition, the city has asked state officials to suspend the sale of alcohol in the city until Tuesday.

At a Sunday night news conference, Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said: “We will not tolerate lawlessness from anybody.” She said the decision to sweep the streets came after reports of looting and the throwing of bricks and bottles at police. She said she was unsure who specifically made the decision to clear the streets.

The majority of the crowd were college students in town for the annual Labor Day weekend Greekfest for members of fraternities and sororities, authorities said. During last year’s Greekfest, police were forced to clear smaller groups of young people from the street.

Some witnesses said police overreacted to the students’ activities.

Paul Williams, a 21-year-old Temple University student who said he watched the confrontation begin from his motel balcony, said: “Last year, everything was real nice. There was no violence . . . but this year the place was jammed with police and they were hassling people.”

Witnesses said police formed a “V” with six to eight mounted officers backed by police in riot gear, and began moving south down Atlantic pushing students off the street and sidewalks with clubs.

Several witnesses said they saw tear gas or a smoke bomb fired to disperse the crowd.

City officials first said neither was used. Later, they said a smoke bomb was fired into the crowd to indicate wind direction should tear gas be necessary.

Merchants and city crews cleaned up the damage Sunday under the eyes of flak-jacketed guardsmen armed with assault rifles. By 6 p.m., the National Guardsmen were off the street and the sidewalks were crowded with visitors. Police in riot gear were on most street corners.

Denise Pinto and Maria Badinno stood in the ruins of a clothing store. The only things left on the shelves were signs warning that shoplifters would be prosecuted.