Western University Homecoming comes and goes without major incidents

London, Ont. police are asking for time to put together the numbers, but it appears Western University’s Homecoming went off without any serious incidents on or off campus.

Beautiful weather on Saturday sparked concern that parties — especially those off campus — might get out of hand. In all, tens of thousands of Western students participated in the annual street party. 

In the area of Broughdale Avenue, police blocked off streets with large vehicles, and tried to contain the foot traffic.

With the addition of officers from Windsor and Hamilton, emergency crews used barricades in the middle of Broughdale to keep the partiers to the sidewalk and front lawns.

While police are not yet ready share final numbers, they have confirmed tickets were handed out as alcohol-fuelled parties grew in size following the end of the Western Mustangs' victory over Ottawa and as the night got underway.

Thousands of students packed Broughdale Avenue in London, Ont. for Homecoming parties on Sept. 23, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“With the cops here and the whole situation it was a very well behaved Homecoming. It wasn’t many disasters, I’ll tell you that. There was a few people on roofs, but that was always settled down by the police,” student Benjamin Yampolsky told CTV News London.

On Sunday morning, Broughdale Avenue and Epworth Avenue — key streets for activity — showed few signs of Saturday’s festivities.

But some people in the area did have complaints come Sunday morning.

"With the moving cars and stuff, that’s when it gets hard because I couldn’t move my car, they barricaded it out of here and I had to drive places last night,” Yampolsky said. 

— With files from CTV News London's Bryan Bicknell and Brent Lale