Authorities are trying to identify more than a dozen people involved in a “chaotic” and unsanctioned street party at the University of Guelph, and demanding accountability from those who put their peers in danger.
More than 1,000 students gathered on Chancellors Way to celebrate Homecoming, or HoCo, on Sept. 26.
Videos posted to social media showed objects being thrown into the crowd, students climbing up buildings and property destruction.
The Guelph Police Service said shoplifting and vandalism incidents were also reported at nearby businesses.
On Wednesday, investigators posted on their website half a dozen photos of people they wanted to identify in connection to the gathering.
Five of them had been identified by the next day.
Police added even more photos on Thursday, bringing the total to 19.
The photos were all stills taken from videos circulating on social media. Some of them showed people with objects in their hands, including cans, smoke bombs and even a plumbing pipe.
“I’d say, turn yourself in. Own up to what you did,” advised Mike Schreiner, Guelph’s MPP and leader of Ontario’s Green Party. “Your behaviour has real consequences that affect a number of people, people who were on Chancellors Way who are put at risk when you’re throwing bottles and rocks and engaging in other unsafe behaviour.”
According to Guelph General Hospital, approximately 60 people were hurt at HoCo. Dr. Alex Folkl, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine, said those visits “stretched” the emergency department “beyond capacity” and put “significant pressure on critical” resources.
The University of Guelph promised to take action in a statement issued on Monday.
Rene Van Acker, the school’s president and vice chancellor, condemned the bad behaviour and stated “this cannot happen again.”
A concern for both Schneider and Van Acker was the number of people with little to no connection to the school.
CTV News spoke to a second-year student from the Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo who travelled to the city specifically for the party.
“It was the craziest Homecoming I’ve ever been to in my entire life, let alone the craziest HoCo I’ve seen at Guelph, ever,” he said a day after the gathering.
“I would say, think twice before you start travelling around the communities,” Schreiner said. “Not just Guelph but other communities, to create this kind of disorder and put so many other people’s safety at risk.”
Van Acker called it a “concerning trend.”
Schreiner had a message for the troublemakers.
“You’re going to ruin it for everyone else,” the MPP said. “Do you really want to be the people responsible for that?”
CTV News also reached out to the Guelph Police Service for an update on their investigation and the numbers of charges laid during Homecoming. They did not respond by the deadline.
“The investigation remains ongoing, and we may ask for further assistance as officers work to identify others,” their website said.
With reporting from Karis Mapp
