Broncos' fans celebrating Super Bowl win cause minor damage in Denver
DENVER -- Fans celebrating the Denver Broncos' Super Bowl win Sunday night caused minor damage across the city and police used pepper spray to disperse some crowds.
The rear window of a police SUV was smashed out, and newspaper boxes and garbage cans were torn from their anchors and thrown into the street. Police officers were forced numerous times to fire pepper-spray-filled paint balls into crowds to disperse them and clear the 16th Street Mall, the pedestrian zone in the city's heart.
The celebrations began peacefully shortly after the Broncos clinched a win in Santa Clara, Calif. Thousands of people poured onto downtown streets around 9 p.m., many of them coming from the dozens of bars in the area.
As darkness deepened and the crowds grew, police officers in riot gear moved in, trying to keep the cross streets open for traffic. Their presence sparked confrontations and spurred obscenities from a small number of people. At one point, a group of about 20 officers retreated down Champa Street as the crowd advanced toward them throwing rocks, bottles, and chunks of ice clawed up from the sidewalk.
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The officers regrouped, donned their gas masks and then retook the intersection, repeatedly firing pepper balls to scatter the crowd. That scenario repeated itself at several intersections over the course of the evening. At times heavy clouds of pepper spray hung over the intersections, causing some people to vomit into nearby trash cans and others to pour water onto their eyes in an attempt to stop the burning sensation.
The conflict came after the Denver Police Department repeatedly reminded fans to show good behavior following the win.