Penn State Riot: Students Protest, Clash With Police After Joe Paterno Fired

We have all sorts of Penn State riot videos, photos, and first-hand accounts here, but one thing we’ve lacked is big-picture numbers and facts on the aftermath. Word spread throughout the night about two arrests, but police are still tracking down the official final number.

The Associated Press reports “about 100 police wearing helmets and carrying pepper spray” were on the scene. Tear gas was also used at one point, and batons were brandished. At one point, claims of police dogs broke up a large cluster of humanity. Hard to say whether police dogs were actually used as a threat, but it definitely doesn’t seem any were loosed.

This isn’t really the same kind of thing as when Louisville was reportedly thinking about keeping its cheerleaders out of Morgantown. It’s the job of higher-ups to think of stuff like this to be concerned about. I’d expect a peaceful afternoon, with many older fans and alums in the building, along with a few days worth of cooldown for emotional students. But it would probably still be wise for police to field an increased presence.

Not all Penn State students took to the streets of State College Wednesday night to protest the firing of a football coach who didn’t stop child abuse from happening under his watch. While a TV news van was flipped, street lights came down, and this guy failed to contribute, more than one PSUer showed up to point out the reason Joe Paterno had to be fired.

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Wednesday night, CNN and ESPN were both put in awkward positions. The former had excellent on-the-spot coverage and was bringing in commenters from various fields, but was taking the Penn State student demonstration entirely too seriously. There was the threat somebody could get hurt, of course, and some kids were genuinely mad. But for the most part, these sports fans were just having dumb fun.

ESPN struggled to cover an event that hadn’t been scheduled at all. But at least they didn’t run a Dr. Phil interview and cut to Piers Morgan Tonight, both of which CNN did around midnight.

Here we have the perfect Penn State riot video. This one really tells you all you need to know about the rally for fired coach Joe Paterno. Watch as a pair of “national media members” (I have no idea of their identities) is booed, cursed, and toilet-papered while surrounded by riot cops and trying to flee a hostile portion of campus.

Then watch as other Penn State students recite their dutiful “Wooooooooooooo!“s for another media member, a camera man.

Penn State students gathered en masse to show support for former (former!) football coach Joe Paterno, who was fired by the school’s Board of Trustees for not taking the opportunity to stop former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky from raping many children. If it’s time to gather en masse, it’s time to break some stuff, and if it’s time to break stuff, it’s time for the police force assembled from various jurisdictions to use pepper spray and tear gas.

The former does a fine job of dispersing one pack of students. A pair of true pros in the middle is even able to get out of harm’s way while still partying.

Here’s a video of the first such unlucky fixture:

And here’s the second:

Outraged-yet-scampering Penn State students, your riot was an embarrassment. You’ll realize that once you wake up, of course, but I don’t really mean it was an embarrassment because you were caught reveling in your sweatpants in the name of no particular noble cause. That’s pretty much all that happens at college.

Furthermore, your riot sucked because nobody showed up who was able to articulate just what was so outrageous about a university saving face and stopping the bleeding, to use to expressions, by firing a football coach who’d been made aware of a crime and did very little, a day later, to stop it.

It’s not uncommon for college kids to try to steal street signs. Walk into the average dorm or college apartment, and chances are there’s going to be a sign on a wall. Some attempts are better thought out than others, and this rioter at Penn State Wednesday night clearly had not concerned damn near any of Newtonian physics before hanging his full body weight off this flimsy street sign a solid 15 feet in the air.

h/t Sharapova’s Thigh

The Penn State riots have finally died down, hours after they began. Following the Board of Trustees’ announcement that Joe Paterno had been fired, effective immediately, protesters converged on downtown State College, where they remained throughout much of the night. Police did mobilize while aggressively working to break the crowd up, and hours later it appears their efforts were successful.

Via

The riots are over in State College. Their least valuable player is this man, the worst rioter in the world.

So much is wrong here. What is Ed Kowalcyk, the former lead singer of Live, expecting to burn? That’s newspaper. He has about fifteen seconds to get that newspaper underneath something flammable before it either burns to black feathers or flies down the street and catches someone’s sweatpants on fire. Unless there is a stack of kerosene soaked logs directly behind him, this man is lighting the world’s worst pinata on fire for about thirty seconds max.

Rioting after Penn State fired Joe Paterno was a horrible idea to begin with, but that didn’t stop a massive amount of students from taking to the streets in State College to protest the move. Police were ready and began to take more aggressive actions as the night wore on and the crowd swelled. Pepper spray was used, arrests were made and tear gas was fired at one time or another.

↵This was the moment one young man realized this was all such a terrible idea.

As the situation continues to escalate at Penn State, rioters/protesters have flipped some news fans. The situation thus far has been relatively non-violent, but multiple news vans are now being flipped over while the crowd chants “F the media.” Rocks and other things are also being thrown at vehicles, including fire trust attempting to get through the crowd.

Here is video of some protesters flipping one of the news vans, which can cost upwards of $10 million of dollars.

The scene in College Station continues to escalate as the police attempt to control the growing crowd. Through Twitter, we’ve been able to follow what’s going on as the situation progresses. The Penn State community notification Twitter account, @psutxt, tweeted that the police issued an official dispersal order and would begin arresting protesters.

There have also been reports of rocks being thrown at cars on the streets and at firetrucks trying to get through the crowd:

It’s starting to get ugly in State College, where a massive amount of students have taken to the streets in protest of Joe Paterno’s firing on Wednesday. While the damage thus far has been minimal -- reports indicate a downed lightpost and little more at this point -- the ingredients are there for a volatile situation. Police are keeping a watchful eye, but have begun to actively take measure to get the crowd to disperse.

The scene was already chaotic shortly after the Penn State Board of Trustees announced Paterno’s firing. And as the night has wore on, the crowd downtown in State College has continued to swell, with little indication it will disperse anytime soon.

Penn State students took to the street on Wednesday night after head coach Joe Paterno was fired, effective immediately, by the Board of Trustees. Paterno is a beloved figure in State College, and the news that he was out as head coach triggered a huge gathering in downtown State College. Students took to the streets, and have been rallying in protest -- some screaming “We Want Joe” -- since the move was announced.

A few photos from the scene can be found below. The first should give you a sense of what’s going on in State College, and involves a “look at me” moment.

Joe Paterno is out as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Board of Trustees announced on Wednesday evening. The move was immediately met with shock and anger by those gathered in State College following the press conference to announce Paterno had coached his last game.

Video of the area showed a large gathering, likely of students, chanting and yelling. Screams of “We Want Joe” could be heard, as well as “[expletive] Sandusky” and “We Are ... Penn State.”