U.S.

Rioting Over Spilled Milk

March 2, 2001 / 7:38 AM EST / AP

Police arrested 13 people after a food fight at a high school escalated into a brawl involving 400 students. At least two students were treated at hospitals for minor injuries.

Classes were canceled at Andress High School in northeast El Paso following the fight Thursday. Students said the brouhaha began over a carton of milk thrown during breakfast.

"It's pathetic, fighting over something so simple," 15-year-old Latoya St. Cyr said. "They fought at breakfast and then decided to wait and finish it at lunch. I think everything was scary, the fighting, the cops, and it's not over yet."

Students comfort each other after the disturbance.

A police statement said 11 of the students were charged with rioting, one possession of a prohibited weapon - a knife - and one with disorderly conduct.

Police responded to reports of a fight about 12:20 p.m. local time, and the situation escalated after some students refused to return to class, said police Cmdr. Sylvia Aguilar.

By 1 p.m., police had surrounded the area and closed a road next to the school while a police helicopter circled above. More than 100 El Paso law officers responded to the riot.

Some students said the fight was racially motivated, and that taunts were exchanged among black and Hispanic students. According to the Texas Education Agency, the school is 55 percent Hispanic, 27 percent white and 16 percent black.

Terrel Tate, 16, said the racism that sparked the riot was more frightening than the police riot sticks and pepper spray.

"It's more difficult because they hate each other because of their skin," Tate said.