Several fights broke out in downtown Madison early Saturday morning that required a dozen police officers and pepper spray to quell, according to a Madison Police Department statement.

The report said the fight broke out at about 2 a.m. in the State Street and Frances Street area and approximately 200 people were gathered in the area when multiple fights broke out.

A dozen police officers responded to the scene to stop the fighting. One officer was struck in the head and chest during the skirmish but was not seriously injured, according to the statement.

The report said several people were arrested.

MPD officials did not immediately return phone calls for further details.

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said there is no indication any University of Wisconsin students were involved in the incident.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the area in which the fights occurred is a busy intersection and it is not unusual to have 200 people in that area, given the popular bars and restaurants nearby.

Verveer said offenders are getting themselves re-arrested for causing problems during bar time. One man arrested is under supervision of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, he said.

“What is shocking and disturbing is the fact that convicts are continuing to hang out and cause problems in this area,” Verveer said. “This is just the latest in a serious of arrests of individuals with serious criminal records.”

According to Verveer, this is one of too many incidents the city has seen this year around bar time in the downtown area. Verveer backed up the police’s decision to deploy pepper spray on the citizens although he said it is unfortunate the use of pepper spray is becoming so common.

Verveer said the extra cops in the area due to the Downtown Safety Initiative prevented the incident from being worse.  He said if the initiative were not in effect, there may not have been enough cops to break up the fight.

“The police are doing their best,” he said. “The city government has tried to provide as many tools as possible to deal with these issues.”

Verveer said he is disappointed with the fact outside criminals are continuing to come downtown. He said there were problems with this in the summer and he thought they would stop coming once the school year started.

Resnick said the city is doing certain things to proactively focus on the instigators of these incidences. He added the city started a mentoring program earlier this year.

“We are reaching out to youth that are hanging out in the State Street area with no place to go,” he said.

Resnick said members of the program approach individuals and ask why they are there and if they have a job. The main objective is to get to the root of the problem, he said.

There are also gang officers who visit University Avenue and State Street to focus on these problems.

Resnick said despite the incident, this weekend was “quiet” and from house parties to noise violations, there were very few incidents.