[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Despite intense yearlong planning, increased police staffing and extensive community involvement, the State Street Halloween party turned ugly early Sunday morning.

Capping at approximately 75,000 to 80,000 people filling the streets, the celebration ended in riots for the third year in a row.

In a press conference Sunday, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said the city now faces two choices: to increase management for future Halloween events or to completely cancel the weekend party.

“We’ve got to ask ourselves whether or not we should try to manage this event in the future or try to discourage it actively,” Cieslewicz said.

Friday night festivities passed without large disturbance but were followed by the Saturday night police use of pepper spray on a crowd that became uncontrollable.

At 1:30 a.m. Sunday approximately 5,000 people gathered on the 500 block of State Street and began pushing, yelling and dancing. A number of fights broke out before and during the disturbance, while several police-mounted horses were hit with objects and beaten.

Shortly afterward, a small bonfire started when the crowd threw costumes into a pile and began burning it. Members of the crowd began jumping over the fire and passing objects, including a tire and a garbage can.

Using large pepper-spray canisters, police in full riot gear began pushing the frenzied crowd off of State Street to north and south Frances Street. Over the next hour, police worked to remove people from State and Langdon streets.

Police Chief Noble Wray said large stadium lights, which were turned on before pepper spray was deployed, helped to clear people from the street.

If people on the street wanted to move away from the disturbance, they could have, Wray added.

Cieslewicz said the efforts were not completely successful.

“When 5,000 people need to be cleared from the street using pepper spray and horses, when our officers need to don protective gear because objects are being thrown at them, when horses are being prodded and punched, when a fire is started and fire department personnel are harassed at the scene, this is in no way a successful event,” he said.

Despite the use of pepper spray, members from the police and fire department as well as the UW community feel some parts of the night were a success. No serious injuries or severe property damage occurred.

“We believe as in terms of minimizing injuries, for officers or citizens or those attending the event — this is a success,” Wray said during the press conference.

According to Assistant Chief of Police Luis Yudice, preliminary numbers show 196 arrests were made Friday, of which 64 were from out-of-state visitors. Another 252 arrests occurred Saturday, 93 of which were from out-of-state visitors.

The majority of the out-of-state arrests were from residents of Minnesota with 49 arrests and Illinois, 19 arrests.

A total of 448 arrests were made, with only 57 identified as UW students, a figure representing 12.8 percent of the total arrests.

“We’re going to look at each case,” UW Chancellor John Wiley said. “We don’t want anyone to go away with the idea that the majority of students [causing problems] were from UW.”

According to Wiley, the size and proximity of the UW campus makes UW students the biggest factor in Halloween festivities. The minimal amount of arrests and citations of UW students demonstrates that they are not the main cause of Halloween havoc, Wiley added.

The overall percentages of UW student offenses dropped significantly in comparison to last year, according to Yudice. The majority of UW student offenses were related to alcohol and not to the riots.

“Hardly any of the citations were from downtown addresses or university housing addresses,” Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. “I think our students lead by example … there were just a few yahoos hell-bent on being in a riot.”

Cieslewicz said students involved in the riots will pay the full price.

“I am asking the chancellor, the UW president, the city attorney and the district attorney to aggressively pursue prosecutions and the stiffest penalties possible for all the perpetrators of [Saturday] night’s disturbance,” Cieslewicz said.

Few businesses reported damages after the Halloween celebration Saturday night.

Cracked glass on the doors of the University Book Store and two shattered windows at the Digital Outpost are among the minimal damages compared to last year’s extensive numbers of shattered windows on the 500 and 600 blocks of State Street.

Sam Milin, a UW sophomore, said she witnessed the bonfire that grew between The Den and Brats. The stadium lighting was turned on after the fire began and police started dumping water onto the fire from the roof of The University Inn, she added.

As the crowd was forced to leave State Street, UW sophomore Kevin Lin and Chris Wesloski, who was visiting from Louisiana, said they witnessed a couple of partiers walk past the Digital Outpost and smash two of the business’ windows. A beer bottle was shattered directly above their heads, Wesloski added.

“It was ridiculous,” Lin said. “They wanted to break something just for the hell of it.”

Cieslewicz conveyed a distinct message to out-of-town Halloween rioters during the press conference.

“I want to send a very clear message to everyone who came to Madison to cause trouble this weekend: stay away next year,” he said.

–Aubre Andrus contributed to this report