Keene Pumpkin Festival Aftermath: Students Helping Identify Rioters in Videos and Photos
ByAfter a productive campus meeting to move forward from the "Pumkinfest" chaos, the Keene State College (KSC) community is working to identify individual rioters.
According to WMUR 9, students at the school are helping police identify participants in the riot that ensued at the town's annual Pumpkin Festival. Police have arrested about 80 people thus far and expect to arrest more.
Anne Huot, KSC's president, held "an all-campus meeting" in which some 900 students and 100 faculty members gathered to contribute to a discussion on how to move on.
"As I've said before, please be assured that we are actively taking steps to hold individuals accountable," Huot wrote in a statement. "As pertinent updates are available, we will reach out to those affected. I thank the many campus and community members who have demonstrated their unwavering support for Keene State College."
The annual event is held in Keene, N.H., though it is heavily attended by the KSC community. This year, for reasons still unclear, chaos ensued and rioters began throwing bottles, tearing out lampposts and even flipped at least one car.
Witnesses told the Boston Globe that police tried to subdue the rioting with tear gas, rubber bullets and came decked out in riot gear. Authorities said several were injured that night and transported to the hospital where they were treated for minor scrape-ups and then released.
Luckily for Huot and the police, there seems to be a wealth of photos and videos from that night.
"We're actively beginning to identify people and I expect over the course of the next couple of days, we will have identified a considerable number of folks," Huot told WMUR 9. "It's intensive. We've devoted a lot of resources to it. The police have devoted resources. We're still pulling down video, social media.
"We have thousands and thousands of alumni out there. We have a strong educational reputation. To be sure, the national media has called attention to us, and I think we will be measured by what we do going forward."