PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of Eagles fans jammed the streets of downtown Philadelphia late Sunday in a rowdy celebration of the team’s victory over the New England Patriots in this year’s Super Bowl.
Fans flooded into the streets from crowded bars after watching their team clinch its first Super Bowl title and the first national championship for any Philadelphia team since the Phillies won the World Series in 2008.
The celebration in the streets around City Hall started out peacefully but grew more unruly as some fans pulled down traffic lights, climbed onto the roofs of garbage trucks and bus shelters, pushed over concrete planters and sprayed beer over the crowd. One video showed the awning outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel collapsing under the weight of at least a half-dozen fans who had crowded atop it.
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“We have had several acts of vandalism where windows have been smashed, and some injuries have been reported around light poles that have been pulled down,” the Philadelphia Police Department said in a statement. “We have one report of looting at a gas station. There have been no fatalities.”
Philadelphia fans have a reputation for rowdy celebrations when their teams capture titles. When the Phillies won the World Series, scores of people were arrested in disturbances that included looting of stores and vandalism.
The police did not yet have any tallies of arrests or injuries in Sunday’s celebrations, which lasted into Monday morning.
Many of the fans engaged in Sunday night’s celebrations wore plastic dog masks to symbolize the Eagles’ status as underdogs against several opponents including the Patriots, who were the previous N.F.L. champions.
“I’ve been a longtime Eagles fan, and it’s so fabulous to finally get a win,” said Craig Tinkelman, 52, owner of a graphics company in nearby Cherry Hill, N.J., who held an Eagles victory sign over his head as several shirtless men danced on top of a newsstand across the street.
“The Eagles were a great team all year. They deserved to win. And look out for the next bunch of years, because the Eagles are going to be around.”
John Gieda, 66, fought back tears as he recalled the Eagles’ decades without a Super Bowl victory. A native of the Philadelphia area, Mr. Gieda has lived in Atlanta for the last 18 years but came back to the city in the hope of witnessing the team’s victory.
“We need this,” he said. “It’s cathartic.”