Cancel Panda? After large crowds take to the streets in Sandy Hill, area residents wonder what can be done

Unruly crowds partying in Sandy Hill have residents once again questioning the future of the Panda Game and wondering what can be done to keep parties from causing chaos on residential streets.

Stephen Higham, a Russell Avenue resident who erected temporary fencing on his property to prevent crowds from coming onto his and his neighbours’ properties, said he felt some relief Monday. Last year, his street was the epicentre of the post-game chaos.

“This year was a success,” he said, “in that none of my neighbours were punched in the face and nobody’s car was flipped over, but that’s a pretty low bar for success and it was still a complete and utter gong show.”

This time, however, the crowds mostly gathered on Somerset Street. Although at times, Higham said, revellers began backing into the laneway behind his house, leading him to worry that the party would end up in his backyard. Groups of people looking for a party did come to Russell Avenue throughout the evening, but police, who were present in the area in large numbers, quickly ushered them elsewhere.

Ottawa police officers, with reinforcements from the Ontario Provincial Police, were “putting out fires all night,” Higham said, describing their work as a game of whack-a-mole.

Social media footage showed hundreds of partiers gathered on Somerset Street around 11 p.m. For the next two hours, Higham said police tried to quell the crowd and eventually regained control.

The OPS said in a statement Sunday morning that seven people had been arrested and investigations were ongoing.

Cathy Major, the secretary of Action Sandy Hill (ASH) and an area resident, said she went out for a walk through the neighbourhood around 8 p.m. on Saturday and was frightened by the boisterous crowds on Somerset. A heavy police presence reassured her, she said, but ultimately, ASH was disappointed with the crowds’ lack of respect for residents and disregard for police and university messaging.

Major couldn’t say exactly what she thought had to happen to prevent the chaos from continuing to become a yearly event in the neighbourhood, but said ASH would be consulting affected residents and may go as far as pushing for the game to be cancelled.

“We will be consulting with the neighbourhood to see what their experiences were and what their feelings are, and we will look at all options, including supporting a cancellation of Panda,” she said.

“Something has to change here. We haven’t come to any conclusions, but we live in this neighbourhood because we choose to live here and we have the right to enjoy living here and feel safe and secure. That’s all we want. We want people to have fun, but not at our expense.”

The University of Ottawa said in a statement the school regretted the disruptions caused by the large crowds in some areas of Sandy Hill. “We will now take stock with our partners and discuss lessons learned,” the statement read.

Before the game, police, bylaw enforcement officers, Carleton University and the uOttawa issued stern statements urging students to party responsibly and to respect nearby residents.

But Major said that, from what she saw, the crowds were composed of many people who appeared to be from out of town and were just searching for a party.

Domenic Salotti, another Russell Avenue resident, said he was happy to see his neighbours’ children playing outside the morning after the Panda Game. “Last year, the broken glass and human waste strewn everywhere forced them to stay inside, sadly,” he said.

Salotti said residents appreciated the city’s and the police’s efforts to prevent chaos.

“However, there were moments where it almost could have gone the other way, where we faced reckless behaviour, and many Sandy Hill residents still suffered unduly, including having property damaged and beer cans thrown at them,” he said, adding that “all options must be on the table” to ensure Ottawa’s inner-city residential neighbourhoods are safe.

Higham said some of his neighbours may support the cancellation of the game after what they had been through this year and in years past. But for his part, he doesn’t think that will solve their problems.

“I’m not convinced that cancelling is actually going to solve this. It’s more about recognizing that this is something that’s going to keep happening. This is how the kids want to party and so maybe it’s about being creative in providing a space for them.

“I’m not sure what the policy solution is here. But right now it seems like it’s a problem for police, but it’s a much bigger community problem. It’s a university problem and it’s a city problem, and it’s definitely a problem for residents.”

In the meantime, Higham said he will continue to erect fencing on his property on Panda weekend to keep the crowds away.

“It’s crazy that we have to do that, right?” he said. “We’re just ordinary people living our lives in a neighbourhood of Ottawa that erect barricades as if we’re facing some sort of disaster once a year, and I’ll do it again next year for sure. Even though things didn’t get out of hand right in front of my house this year, that potential was still very much there and at points it felt like that was about to happen.”

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