Police arrested a man at University College yesterday, after he reportedly wreaked havoc in the main hall, damaging the high table and shouting at college staff.
A student reported seeing the man “screaming” at college porters, before he “started trashing the main hall.”
Students said that the hall was closed off for dinner last night after the high table was apparently knocked over. The College has confirmed to Cherwell that some furniture in the hall was damaged, but that no students were injured.
A police spokesperson told Cherwell: “Thames Valley Police officers were called at about 4.25pm yesterday (12/6) following reports of a criminal damage incident at University College, High Street, Oxford.
“Officers attended the scene, where a 27-year-old man from Oxford was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. He has been released under investigation.”
One student told Cherwell how “A disturbed man somehow got into Univ shouting and screaming – [he] smashed up the main hall before being taken away by police.”
Another student told Cherwell: “[I was] Walking down the high street, and observed police running into Univ, as we went in we heard a man screaming from the hall.
“We were walking that way anyway and saw staff and police crowding around the entrance before going in, restraining the man and dragging him out.”
The student reported seeing the man “screaming all the way out of college, struggling at the doorway before being eventually shoved into the back of a police van.”
University College hall dates back to 1656, with its internal decorations in the Gothic revival style of the late eighteenth century.
