Police Arrest 15 in Square As Riot Follows Tiger Rally

Eight Princeton and four Harvard undergraduates were removed to Cambridge police headquarters early today after three hours of the most violent rioting seen in Harvard Square in a decade.

Three Cambridge youths involved in the fighting were also taken to headquarters.

Nearly 50 Cambridge and University police answered calls to the Square to quell hand-to-hand fighting which started at 11:30 p.m. when a Harvard contingent attempted to break up a Princeton pep rally in the Square. More than 2,000 persons were involved in the riot.

Before the last wagonload of brawling students left the Square, police had thwarted an attempt to immobilize a Lochmere-bound trolley and the Cambridge fire department had answered one false alarm in the riot area.

According to participants, the flare-up began at 11:30 p.m. when the 150 Princeton students standing in front of Cronin's decided to stage a Yard rally. They circled through the Yard and then poured into the Square, attracting a crowd which eventually numbered 2,000.

Trouble started when a trackless trolley attempting to get through the Square and its trolley poles removed by students. Police immediately began removing students to the Cambridge police headquarters.

In the ensuing disturbance, one police squad car had three of its tires deflated and its license plates, windshield wiper and gas tank cap taken. The only other police casualty was a plainclothesman who was punched in the teeth; his assailant escaped into the crowd before he could be apprehended.

Of the 15 men booked, 11 were still unable to raise bail at 3 a.m. Eight of these were in for disturbance of the peace, for which bail is $27, and three for drunkenness, for which bail is $17. However, the last three were not eligible for release until four hours after arrest.

The 15 will appear in Third District Court in East Cambridge at 9 a.m. today.