He was only trying to help.

So said Matt Denner, Government of the Student Body off-campus senator and Daily columnist, after his release from a holding cell Sunday morning — one of 32 sent to the Ames jail after a riot along Welch Avenue and Lincoln Way.

Denner, along with former GSB senator Drew Miller, was arrested at 4 a.m. Sunday by Ames Police as the riot wound down. Denner said he had come to the area after rioting had started and had remained to try to help calm the masses. While walking back to Denner’s car with the intention of leaving the scene, Denner said he and Miller stopped to talk to a KCRG television reporter. The two were arrested before Denner could give the interview and spent the remainder of the morning in a cell. Both were charged with interference with official acts.

As a witness to the riot, Denner said he viewed the events as a gesture of disrespect from those involved.

“Unfortunately, it shows that there are a number of students on campus who don’t respect their city, their traditions or their university,” he said. “They made a much bigger problem for the city and the university last night. It’s not an issue of students drinking too much; it’s a clear expression of disrespect.”

Miller, at one point, was carrying a piece of a downed lamp post on Lincoln Way on Sunday morning.

Student leaders struggled Sunday to comprehend actions of the crowd, with many expressing feelings of remorse and outrage at the revelers or at police.

“It’s really disturbing to see an event like this,” said former GSB president Mike Banasiak. “It does not help in any way the way college students are portrayed. It’s these types of actions done by the few that ruin things for the rest.”

Banasiak — who recently finished planning a way to return a football tailgating lot to student control — said the progress he’s made in acquiring the spot may be threatened by the riot.

“When something like this happens, it doesn’t just affect one event,” he said. “It affects everything students have worked for. Everything we’ve been able to take a step forward, this takes us two steps back. This is the kind of thing that makes our job of fighting for students that much harder. Where we go from here, I have no idea.”

Current GSB President and public relations co-chairwoman for Veishea Sophia Magill echoed Banasiak’s disappointment.

“I think, first of all, that I’m dismayed that this had to happen, especially during Veishea,” she said.

Magill said further discussions between students and administrators would be needed to know the best way to proceed, and what new regulations, if any, would be needed to preserve the peace in the future.

GSB Vice President William Rock stressed the need to avoid hasty decisions.

” I’m not sure a knee-jerk reaction would be helpful,” he said. “The last thing we need is for a reaction to be brought down on everyone because of the poor behavior of a few.”

GSB Vice Speaker Shawn Montague, who lives at the Theta Xi house near where the riot occurred, said the event hinted at a residual anger from the student body.

“They’ve been mad at the administration for some time,” he said. “Since Veishea has gone dry, the quality has gone down every year. I think the situation got extremely out of hand last night, and the student body is going to regret their decision to tear up Campustown.”

He said the riot was, in part, a reaction to the police presence, and he heard anti-police and anti-dry Veishea chants from the crowd.

Montague said he expects a GSB action to result from the incident.

“I don’t think the GSB is going to push anything, but something is going to have to be said,” he said. “The City Council is going to visit it, and GSB is going to have to take a stand.”

— Jason Noble and P. Kim Bui

contributed to this article.