London police report no major incidents as thousands attend homecoming street parties

Broughdale Avenue and other off-campus neighbourhoods near Western University were buzzing on Saturday as thousands of students turned out for unsanctioned homecoming street parties.

As in previous homecomings, also known as HoCo, the throngs of students decked out in purple were monitored by a beefed-up police presence, as London officers were assisted by personnel from Hamilton and Windsor and a police drone.

Despite the frenzy of activity, no major incidents occurred over the course of the warm afternoon and evening, a police spokesperson told CBC News late Saturday night.

"From our perspective, I mean, obviously we only see some portion of it, but from what we've seen, it was pretty close to what we've seen in the past," said Cst. Matt Dawson of that day's events in and around Broughdale and on nearby streets.

"We really haven't seen a lot of major incidences, or really any minor incidences between even people that are going from house to house. Between the police and the students that are down there, it's been a very positive interaction throughout the afternoon and into the evening."

While police kept a lid on any rowdy behaviour, city bylaw enforcement officers responded to noise complaints, large gatherings and parking infractions, handing out warnings and Administrative Monetary Penalties.

The police media office would not provide a rough crowd size estimate to CBC News, but a police official estimated to the London Free Press that roughly 15,000 to 18,000 people were on Broughdale at one point later on in the afternoon.

Some 15,000 people attended unsanctioned gatherings on homecoming weekend last year, and 10,000 the year before that. During last year's festivities, paramedics also transported 39 people to hospital, up from 31 in 2023

CBC News reached out to Middlesex-London Paramedic Services for comment but did not hear back by publication.

Official figures are expected to be released by the city and London police later this week.

A fenced-off corridor was once again established along Broughdale to allow the easy movement of paramedics into the neighbourhood, but Dawson says it didn't need to be used.

"It sounded like there was maybe a couple of people that got taken out, there may have been one person that had fallen. No major injuries from that, from my understanding."

As thousands packed into Broughdale, nearly 14,000 others filled the stands at Western Alumni Stadium as the Western Mustangs took on McMaster University, beating the Marauders 52-22.

Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow, whose ward includes Broughdale and neighbouring streets, along with off-campus areas east and west of Western, said he received fewer complaints from the public compared to previous years.

"But that might just mean that people just don't bother anymore," he told CBC News on Sunday morning. "I can't say things were worse this year, but I'm looking forward to receiving formal statistics."

Trosow says councillors received regular updates from city staff throughout the day. According to Dawson, representatives from various agencies monitored homecoming and managed resources from the Emergency Operations and Training Centre in Byron.

"I will say the problem is not the afternoon as much as it is the evening, where there were lots of reports of noise complaints, which is to be expected," Trosow said.

"But I think at this point we have a good sense of which properties off campus are the problem properties, and maybe we need to be doing some more work in terms of enforcement, proactive enforcement, of those properties."

Dawson says Broughdale had largely cleared out by 9 p.m. as students made their way downtown to bars and pubs.

At one point, officials responded to a report of a large crowd on John Street that had spilled onto Richmond Street and was blocking traffic.

Fire crews and paramedics also saw several calls throughout the night for unconscious student-age revellers along Richmond Row.