This riot had nothing to do with hockey or hockey fans or the citizens of Vancouver. Just because they had a Canuck uniform on does not make them a fan.
Vancouver has a group of people in the city that wait for a chance to create havoc. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WIN OR LOOSE… IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOCKEY.
Families that were enjoying the big screen and truly watching the game and looking forward to the celebrations afterward started leaving the city as more and more drunk young men started arriving. The big screen TV had to be shut down before the presentations because of the drunks throwing cans and bottles at the screen.
The news media always goes after the police. Calling for resignations and protecting the criminals. They were repeatedly showing one incident taking a young man into custody. The problem is with our culture sympathising with the criminal they go mostly unpunished.
What kind of society do we have that is breeding and allowing these young trouble makers to continue?
We should not loose our focus. This time maybe we need an inquiry into the reason we have this growing culture among young men. Why do they want to become criminals and anarchists that lay in wait for any opportunity to start trouble, in this case arriving near the end of the game with weapons, gasoline, goggles, hoodies up, masks and a plan?
Some of these men took part in other troubles during the Olympics.
This planned riot started before the end of the game with the burning of a bear representing the Bruins. There has been information that they even had plans ahead of time as to what car was set on fire first. They posed and took their time breaking the first windows so that their friends could get good pictures of them. Then of course there were the idiots that joined in or cheered them on so there were lots of alcohol filled followers. They are sheep and have no minds of their own.
These people are not hockey fans they did not live in the downtown area. We always let these little spoiled brats take over the city. We seem not to be able to punish them.
However; having said that, the police know about the group of trouble makers so it would have been a good idea to keep a sharp eye on them.
Somehow we have come to the point where we cannot touch the criminal. The police have continually been reduced in their authority. If they harm a hair of the person committing the crime while arresting them we will have a lengthy enquiry and the police will be punished!
Police had to cope with between 100 to 150,000 people most young drunk men. Nine officers were injured needing stitches, one with a concussion and lot of human bites! Many off duty police came in to help out. There were lots of brave people in the crowd showing courage.
One police officer tried to help someone and he was carried along by the crowds. There was young women trying to protect their vehicles and one got punched by a man and knocked to the ground and no one could help her. One man a security guard outside the bay tried to stop them from breaking windows yelling that this was his city but they knocked him down and beat and kicked him. Some young women were tugging at their boyfriends trying to stop them from getting into it.
The Bruins had to be escorted and moved just in case there would be a problem. People do also live in this area. There was a reported incidence with a homeless man who looked to be in his 70’s. He had been collecting bottles in his basket. One young man assaulted him but someone stepped in and helped him. One person took off his jersey and threw it into a fire and encouraged someone else to do this and when he would not comply he pushed him into the fire. One imbecile tried to jump over a burning car and fell into the fire but was able to get out. No doubt drugs were also a factor.
St Paul’s hospital reported over 140 people injured with stabbings and broken bones, besides the pepper spray.
Police sometimes left hot spots to try to get the crowd out of down town core and to their praise it was all over in about 3 hours. There have been over 100 arrests so far and 120 tips to help track the culprits down.
Fire fighters had over 287 incidents for them to deal with. They had to prioritize and be mindful of their own security and watch out for people cutting hoses.
They made sure that the major fires did not get away on them and turn more serious.
This morning we wake up to the hangover. There was lots of shock and disbelief in the ugliness and loss of reputation that was built up over the time of the Olympics. It was not nice seeing pictures of it on the cover of the New York Times and the U.K. reporting it as disappointed fans. It was embarrassing and there should be a lot of embarrassed mothers. This is not what I think of Canada.
We saw looters and this is something we never thought could happen here but I think this can happen anywhere. About 15 cars including police cars were set on fire. The amount of property damage has not been tallied yet but over a million were spent for the event itself and windows that were smashed alone are about $2000.00 each.
It looked like a war zone with smoke and helicopters. Newly arrived immigrants thought that this was going to be a really nice event and it scared them and reminded them of the places they ran from, developing countries with violence and real problems. They wondered why the army was not called in.
Bridges were closed off and transit including the sky train was down so a lot of people could not get out of the city core. Many real fans took refuge in places like the Bay.
I heard tourist cancel planned future trips. Many small business people may not be able to recoup from this, it will bring a lot of financial hardship to Vancouver. They were prepared for the upcoming tourist season. We have a trip planned for October and because we live on the west coast and go to Vancouver often it will not stop us. This is normally a very peaceful city with kind and generous citizens.
Who is going to pay for all this? Well insurance may pay for some of it. Store owners were checking their policies this morning to see if they had riot coverage. ICBC will pay for burnt vehicles. In the end it will be the tax payers.
I think maybe we have become complacent thinking the ‘94 riot could not happen again. Let’s face it Canada as a whole not just Vancouver has a problem. Stop protecting these people and try to put a stop to this. Help the police get these people locked away as it would make everyone’s life more enjoyable. Stop blaming the police get the trouble makers so that we can have future events in peace.
This has been really emotional for a lot of people. Stop blaming the hockey fans. Send in your video so the police can analysis it. Lets track them down lets punish them this time. Don’t let them get away with it again.
Al is a real hockey fan. Vancouver is not his team but we watched the game and he said afterwards, they are not talking about the game but about a riot! Vancouver did really well making it to the 7th game of the finals and the Vancouver fans are proud of this. This was all buried under the news about the riot. Also I feel good for Boston as it was the first win since 1972. I am a baby boomer and it makes me feel young again with Boston winning the Stanley Cup.
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