Boston Police play peacekeepers during Allston water war

(Photo by Gabrielle T. Dunn for the Boston Globe)

By Gabrielle T. Dunn, Globe Correspondent

A horde of green bandana-clad warriors descended on the intersection of Harvard and Brighton avenues in Allston yesterday, screaming, squirting, and slinging water balloons until Boston police, who said the fun was getting out of hand, stepped in to break it up.

Answering the call of a local arts group, nearly 100 combatants, clad in wrestling masks, trucker hats, and military fatigues and armed with squirt pistols, hydrocannons, and water balloons, engaged in an impromptu public display of late-summer zaniness. At one point, a sport utility vehicle drove by, and one of its occupants sprayed the crowd through the passenger window with a blue squirt cannon.

"That's cheating!" a few people yelled.

But not everyone was in on the joke. Throughout the free-for-all, three Boston police vehicles circled the intersection or parked watchfully nearby.

After a half-hour and after some participants began hitting unsuspecting vehicles with balloons and Super Soaker blasts, officers got out of their cars and broke up the fight, visiting each corner of the intersection to tell people to pack it up due to safety issues.

"You guys had your fun," a female officer told some of the soggy combatants. "It's a busy intersection. There are little kids here. We don't want to see anybody get hurt."

The event, dubbed Allston Squirt Gun Day, was put on by a group of local artists calling themselves The Clone Collective.

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