Drunken Cambridge students cause havoc in public park

However, the police and paramedics were forced to intervene following the “stupidity or misguidedness” of more than 2,000 Cambridge University students who caused carnage during a riotous party in a public park where they stripped off, vomited and drank themselves unconscious. Twice as many revellers took part in the May bank holiday party than last year, defying police warnings to reign themselves in and curb their behaviour. In 2010, officers vowed that anti-social behaviour would not be tolerated and told the infamous drinking societies which organise all-day binges that they risked breaking the law. But the number attending the now notorious Caesarian Sunday reached new levels this weekend, causing predicable havoc and a volley of complaints. Families said they were disgusted to see rowdy students downing so much alcohol that they urinated in park flower beds and cavorted with their trousers around their ankles. However, the university dismissed the antics as “just a bit of fun” and said it had no power to prevent such events from taking place. A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said they were obliged to step in and deal with the fall out from such irresponsible behaviour. “We are paid to protect lives and we will do so regardless of whether something has happened through their own stupidity or misguidedness,” he said. The party marks the start of the summer term and historically takes place on Jesus Green. Participants began arriving at around 11.30am, many wearing university blazers and pushing trolley loads of alcohol. They then spent the afternoon getting recklessly drunk whilst taking part in bizarre initiation ceremonies. Girls were seen drinking port through condoms, while others were held upside down as alcohol was poured into their mouths and some acted out sexual positions. At 3pm, hundreds shouted and cheered as more than 20 male students with "war paint" on their faces engaged in a vicious fight during which blood was shed. Traditionally, one team, wearing makeshift togas, marches behind a pig's head on a stake as they head to battle. The annual fight is held between the drinking societies of Jesus College and Girton, known respectively as the Caesarians and the Green Giants. The party has become a tradition since a member of the Green Giants stole a bottle of Pimms from the Caesarians, who took their name from the Roman leader Julius Caesar. Paramedics attended one man in his 20s for an hour before taking him to nearby Addenbrooke's Hospital. Just metres away a crowd of 200 had gathered to hear a brass band play, but their afternoon's entertainment was disrupted by the drunken students. Tracy Burton, 31, a mother of two from Cambridge, said her four-year-old was so traumatised he had refused to go back to the park. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was disgusting behaviour by students who are meant to be the cream of the crop,” she said. "We had gone for a walk in the park with our children and there were lots of other families around and I'm furious they were exposed to their partying. "Lots of the students were semi-naked, others were shouting, swearing and singing loudly. They were totally out of control and no one seemed to be stopping them.” A Cambridge University spokesman dismissed the criticism and said it was “just students having fun and getting drunk”. He said the university had no jurisdiction over what happens in a public place and therefore could not get involved. “What people do in a public place is their concern,” he said. “The University does not condone any behaviour which causes public offences. It is up to the colleges to look into whether or not it is appropriate to discipline the students. If the university is brought into disrepute we will investigate that.” The event is just one of many organised by college drinking societies, the most notorious being Suicide Sunday which marks the end of exams in June. Officials banned the event’s organisers, the Wyverns all-male drinking club from Magdalene College, from holding it on college property after a female jelly-wrestling competitor was arrested for punching a spectator in 2008. In 2010, Cambridge police issued direct warnings to organisers of undergraduate drinking societies and other student events that they could risk breaking the law.