Police clad in riot gear worked to clear a large crowd from East Beaver Avenue on Sunday night after fans poured into the street following the Philadelphia Eagles 41-33 win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
By 10:20 p.m. police were already prepared and on hand in anticipation as the first groups of mostly college-aged revelers came out. The crowd quickly swelled, with Penn State students running from campus to the Beaver Canyon area to join in with others already in the area.
The crowd soon spilled into the street as snowballs were thrown, toilet paper tossed from balconies and signposts climbed. One Twitter post showed a male holding a ‘one-way’ street sign that had been removed from its post.
At 10:43 p.m., a warning to disperse was sent from Penn State’s emergency notification system.
‘Avoid downtown State College. Crowd on Beaver Ave. is an unlawful disturbance. Leave the area or be subject to arrest,’ the alert said.
01PSU Alert U-P: Avoid downtown State College. Crowd on Beaver Ave. is an unlawful disturbance. Leave the area or be subject to arrest.
— PSU Alert UPark (@PSUAlertUP) February 5, 2018
Police on the scene gave the same order and pepper spray was reportedly used in an effort to get the crowd out of the street. Officers lined up to walk down Beaver Avenue to gradually clear the road and shortly after 11 p.m. most of the crowd had been dispersed.
Riot police disperse the final crowd of Eagles fans that congregated on Beaver Avenue. pic.twitter.com/K9uZLu6J9i
— Onward State (@OnwardState) February 5, 2018
The gathering continued on campus, where another large crowd had gathered outside and on the steps of Old Main, but began to leave after police arrived.
