As the large mass of students moved into George St, hundreds of eggs, bottles, rubbish, and buckets full of vomit and faeces, were thrown from first-floor verandas and alleyways, as well as at shop frontages.
A number of students were disciplined for their involvement. OUSAs decision to cease future parades was greeted with approval by many people, including retailers and Dunedin police emergency response commander Inspector Alastair Dickie, who said, after the shamozzle of this years parade, we dont want a repeat . An independent report of the event had been undertaken by the former University Proctor, Ron Chambers.
The end of the day saw some students involved in cleaning up shop frontages, and the end year saw donations from students to the City Council which was passed to Keep Dunedin Beautiful. Mayor Peter Chin was reported as saying, I think it is an appropriate gesture of appeasement in terms of all the issues that have arisen.
Dunedin City Councillor Dave Cull and Otago University Students Association president Edwin Darlow were interviewed by Mark Sainsbury the following day on new programme, Close Up, and the shock of the event is clearly still with them.
Teige OSullivan and Ben Thomson were first years in 2009 and experienced the parade first hand, on the Dunedin Flat Names Facebook page, Ben said, [We] got pelted with eggs, fruit, human feces and everything in between. An other first year student commented in the Otago Daily Times,As one of those first year students who was a participant in this event I was appalled by how violent this annual event was. During this event I felt like I was being herded like cattle while the other students hurled bottles and things at us.
In 2010 Teige and Ben took on the lease of Cumberland Street flat with 7 other male students. They renamed it The Debacle, as Teige said, to represent the 9 boys that now live in it and the activities which take place within the flat. [The] name originated from this video from a[n] American news report on the toga parades last year.
About 5 seconds in to the video you can clearly hear the reporter, Ed Donahue (Associated Press), describe the parade as a debacle.